当前位置： SCI文献检索 > Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health期刊下所有文献 > Children's unique experience of depression: using a developmental approach to predict variation in symptomatology.

Children's unique experience of depression: using a developmental approach to predict variation in symptomatology.

Abstract：

BACKGROUND:Current clinical knowledge suggests that children can have different types of depressive symptoms (irritability and aggression), but presents no theoretical basis for these differences. Using a developmental approach, the present study sought to test the relationship between developmental level (mental age) and expression of depressive symptoms. The primary hypothesis was that as children's mental age increased, so would the number of internalizing symptoms present. METHODS:Participants were 252 psychiatric inpatients aged 4 to 16 with a diagnosed depressive disorder. All children were diagnosed by trained clinicians using DSM criteria. Patients were predominantly male (61%) with varied ethnic backgrounds (Caucasian 54%; African American 22%; Hispanic 19%; Other 5%). Children were given an IQ test (KBIT or WISC) while within the hospital. Mental age was calculated by using the child's IQ score and chronological age. Four trained raters reviewed children's records for depressive symptoms as defined by the DSM-IV TR. Additionally, a ratio score was calculated to indicate the number of internalizing symptoms to total symptoms. RESULTS:Mental age positively correlated (r = .51) with an internalizing total symptom ratio score and delineated between several individual symptoms. Mental age also predicted comorbidity with anxiety and conduct disorders. Children of a low mental age were more likely to be comorbid with conduct disorders, whereas children with a higher mental age presented more often with anxiety disorders. Gender was independently related to depressive symptoms, but minority status interacted with mental age. CONCLUSION:The results of this study indicate that a developmental approach is useful in understanding children's depressive symptoms and has implications for both diagnosis and treatment of depression. If children experience depression differently, it follows that treatment options may also differ from that which is effective in adults.

journal_name

Child Adolesc Psychiatry Ment Health

journal_title

Child and adolescent psychiatry and mental health

authors

Ginicola MM

doi

10.1186/1753-2000-1-9

subject

Has Abstract

pub_date

2007-08-22 00:00:00

pages

issue

issn

1753-2000

pii

1753-2000-1-9

journal_volume

pub_type

杂志文章

在线工具

Children's unique experience of depression: using a developmental approach to predict variation in symptomatology.