Study of depression and related factors in high school students

Objective To investigate depression and its relation with personality feature, mental health, coping ability and family environment in high school students. Methods A total of 488 students of grade ten from high school were investigated by means of cluster sampling and questionnaire survey, and 449 students (92.01%) completed questionnaire. Results The average score of SDS in students was 47.27±10.86. The prevalence rate of depression was 37.86%, and there had no significant differences between gender, and between arts and science students. The students with depression were characterized by introversion, poor emotion stability, psychopathic personality, negative copying style, self-blame, and contradiction. Factor-scores of SCL-90 in students with depression were significantly higher than those in controls, and they were poorer in such aspects as positive coping ability, ability of solving problems, family cohesion, emotional expression, entertainment and organization. Conclusion Depression is common in junior high school students and should be concerned.Depression has prominent correlation with personality feature, mental health status, coping style and family environment.