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Some young people are more likely than others to get depression. These are some of the factors that can put children and teenagers at risk for this illness.

• Family problems. Children can get emotional problems if they have lots of fights with their parents or if their parents don't get along.¹
• Social problems. Children who are in foster care or are homeless have a high risk of getting depressed.¹ So do children who are refugees or who are seeking asylum.
• Depression in your family. Depression runs in families. The genes children get from their parents may have something to do with it. A child or teenager is at least twice as likely to get depressed if a close relative has depression.² In other families, though, depression strikes out of the blue.
• Bad childhood experiences. Children who have been neglected or abused or who have had some other kind of bad event in their lives can become depressed.³
• Friendship problems. If your child doesn't have many friends and doesn't have any close ones, they are more likely to get depressed.¹
• Being very emotional. Children who are very emotional are more likely to get depressed. Your child might burst into tears easily or react quickly to things that happen. More girls than boys have this personality.¹
• Negative thinking. The way your child thinks can also make them more prone to depression. Some children have negative thoughts and blame themselves for bad things that happen.⁴
• Brain chemicals or hormones out of balance. Children with depression may have too much or too little of some chemicals that make their brain work. These are called neurotransmitters. Some hormones may also be out of balance.¹
• Physical illness. Children who have a long illness are more likely to be depressed. Depression can also happen after an infection. And it can be linked to chronic fatigue syndrome.^{5 6} (One of the main symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome is feeling exhausted for no known reason for more than six months.)
• Being a girl. Among young children, just as many boys get depressed as girls. But by puberty, depression affects twice as many teenage girls as boys. The way girls think may make them more prone to depression if something bad happens.⁷ Or changes in hormones at puberty could increase the risk of girls getting depressed.⁸
• Drug abuse. Using marijuana at a young age may affect mental health and is linked to depression.⁹
• Having another disorder. Your child is more likely to get depressed if they are disabled or have a behavior or learning problem.^{1 3} This includes conditions such as anxiety, eating disorders (anorexia and bulimia), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD for short), autism, Asperger's syndrome and other learning problems. Between 50 percent and 80 percent of depressed children and teenagers have another disorder.

Many bouts of depression in children and teenagers happen when there are family or relationship problems in the young person's life.¹ This can be family fighting, divorce, violence at home, physical or sexual abuse, bullying, failing exams or not having any friends.

A stressful event, such as losing a parent or having parents who divorce, may trigger depression in your child.³ Between one-half and two-thirds of children at risk for depression get it after something bad happens to them.¹

This information is for educational use only, and is not a substitute for prompt professional medical advice. Readers should always consult a physician or other professional for advice and treatment. ©BMJ Publishing Group Limited 2008. All rights reserved.