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Pillay AL, Bundhoo HY, Bhowon U.


 

University of KwaZulu-Natal. anthony.pillay@kznhealth.gov.za

 

Self-reports of depression-related distress were obtained from girls of 14 to 17 years of age living in communities

of low socioeconomic status in Mauritius (n = 198) and South Africa (n = 275). Of the girls in the two samples,

26.3 and 21.5%, respectively, had thought about self-harm during the past 5 yr., while between 14.6 and 16.7%

had made self-harm attempts. Also, 39.9% of the Mauritian girls and 31.0% of the South Africans reported being

sad and tearful every day for more than 2 wk. over the past year. Of the girls, Mauritians (54.0%) and South

Africans (32.1%) felt their problems were too much to cope with, while 20.4% of the South African girls and

44.4% of the Mauritians knew of no place to go for help when feeling sad or depressed. The findings highlight the

extent of depression-related symptoms and issues related to access to mental health services. Increasing mental

health services and awareness programmes are indicated.







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XArticle in Turkish]

Eskin M, Ertekin K, Harlak H, Dereboy C.


 

Adnan Menderes U Tip Fak., Psikiyatri AD. meskin@adu.edu.tr

 

å


The study aimed at investigating the prevalence of and factors related to depression in high school students.


å

A total of 805 (n = 367 girls; n = 438 boys) first year students from three high schools in the city of Aydin filled in a

self-report questionnaire that contained questions about socio-demographics, academic achievement and

religious belief. It included also a depression rating scale, social support scale, problem solving inventory and an

assertiveness scale. T-tests, chi-square tests, Pearson moment products correlation coefficients, and logistic

regression analysis were used to analyze the data.

  

141 students (17.5%) scored on and above the cut-off point on the Children Depression Inventory (CDI). In the

first regression analyses low self-esteem, low grade point average (GPA) and low perceived social support from
friends in boys, and low self-esteem, low paternal educational level and low social support from friends were the

predictors of girls' depression. When self-esteem scores were excluded, low GPA, low perceived social support

from friends and family, and inefficient problem solving skills were predictors of depression in boys; low perceived

social support from friends and family, low paternal educational level, and inefficient problem solving skills were

the independent predictors of depression in girls.

å å

Depression is prevalent in high school students. Low self-esteem, low perceived social support from peers and

family, and inefficient problem solving skills appears to be risk factors for adolescent depression. Low GPA for

boys and low paternal education for girls were gender specific risk factors. Psychosocial interventions geared for

increasing self-esteem, social support and problem solving skills may be effective in the prevention and treatment

of adolescent depression.

PMID:

19110980

XPubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Free Article

!
   %d &  

!
   

y English Abstract

d & 

y Achievement
y Adolescent
y Adolescent Psychology*
y Depression/epidemiology*
y Depression/etiology
y Depression/psychology*
y Educational Status
y Female
y Humans
y Male
y Prevalence
y Problem Solving
y Psychometrics
y Questionnaires
 y Risk Factors
y Self Concept*
y Social Support*

©'(
  
 

)
 
 

y Turkish Journal of Psychiatry

y EBSCO

d  

y Teen Mental Health - MedlinePlus Health Information

y Teen Development - MedlinePlus Health Information
y Depression - MedlinePlus Health Information
y Child Mental Health - MedlinePlus Health Information



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XArticle in French]

Bénony H, Van Der Elst D, Chahraoui K, Bénony C, Marnier JP.


 

Département de Psychologie, LPCS, Université de Bourgogne, Dijon, France. herve.benony@u-bourgogne.fr

 

åå

Studies of the psychology of gifted children frequently refer to their relatively immature affective development in

terms of their intellectual capacities and the relational difficulties they experience with regard to their peers,

teachers, close acquaintances and sometimes their parents. From a psychopathological viewpoint, various types

of problem have been observed such as depressive symptoms, motor instability coupled with hyperactivity,

attentional deficits, impulsivity and a fall in self-esteem.

å


In this study, we wished to verify the links between self-esteem and psychopathological symptoms in these

children.


å

The total population studied consisted of 58 pupils taken from two teaching establishments in Dijon who were

subdivided into two groups (gifted children and adolescents versus control children and adolescents). Of these 58

subjects who took part in the tests, 8 were eliminated either due to their results on the "lie" scale of the self-

esteem scale (score greater than or equal to 5) or to their age. In effect, a high score on this scale implies that

the subjects want to show themselves in a better light than is actually correct. It is then assumed that the subjects

had sought the examiner's approval by presenting the best possible image of themselves; 23 gifted children,

referred to as GC (10 girls, 13 boys) aged between 9 and 13 years (mean age=11 years 3 months or 135

months, standard deviation=14) took part in the study. The selection criteria required the subjects to possess an

Intelligence Quotient (IQ) calculated using one of the Weschler tests (WPPSI or WISC III depending on age)

greater than or equal to 130 (mean IQ=145.23, standard deviation=7.93); 20 were attending private schools and

3 were in the state education system. They were all attending special "GC" classes to which they had been

admitted solely on the basis of an IQ test conducted by a psychologist. Their teachers had volunteered to take

these classes and had received appropriate training. The pupils had no record of any neurological or physical

antecedents, were all French-speaking, were not taking any toxic substances and had never consulted a

psychologist or psychiatrist. They were all in advance by one to two years in terms of academic level. They were

matched with the control subjects by real age and not mental age and as a function of their parents' socio-

economic level. The mean age of this latter group was 11 years, 4 months (standard deviation=14 months;

minimum=8 years 11 months, maximum=13 years 1 month) and the group consisted of 14 girls and 9 boys. It

was similar to the target group in terms of age, gender, key childhood experiences, divorces, separations and the

death or illness of close relations. They had never consulted a child psychologist or been hospitalized for related

problems, were not following any psychotherapy, were neither behind nor advanced in terms of academic age

and came from normal classes. Their mean Intelligence Quotient (IQ) was 106.04 (standard deviation=5.39).

Children attending special classes (European, Franco-German, music, sport, etc.) were excluded in order to

obtain as "standardized" a group as possible. The following tools were used: 1) The Child Behaviour Check List

(CBCL), a self-questionnaire developed in 1978 by Achenbach in the USA, which is one of the most frequently

used child psychopathology measuring tools both in research and in clinical practice. It is intended to provide a
standardized description of emotional and/or behavioral problems as observed by parents in children aged

between 4 and 16 years. A French version, "la liste des comportements pour les enfants", has been developed

and used for a subsample of the boys aged between 6 and 11 years (Fombonne and Vermeersch, 1997). 2)

Carré's "self-esteem inventory" (SEI) was created by Carré (1984) in order to test the level of self-esteem. This

tool is designed to measure the subject's evaluation of himself or herself in the social, family, academic and

general fields. A "lie" scale makes it possible to reject invalidated tests. 3) The EDICODE is an instrument

designed to gather and quantify the speech produced by the subject during a semi-structured interview. It is rated

by the interviewer and is therefore dependent on his or her subjective evaluation. It was constructed within a

clinical research perspective (Pierrhumbert et al., 1999) and is based on the theory of attachment (Main and

Goldwyn, 1985-1994). EDICODE consists of 21 items presented in the form of differential semantic scales.

These items are then grouped into 5 factors or scales (containing non-redundant items) that cover the following

dimensions: fluidity (associative richness, ease of access to memories, participation in the interview), coherence

(the speech is "focused" and structured), appropriateness (appropriate relational distance, confidence in

relations, capacity for emotional control), reflection (consideration of one's own mental state and that of others as

well as of the influence of such states), authenticity (spontaneous, lively speech).

  

The comparison of 23 gifted children (GC) and 23 controls matched on age, sex and school grade revealed that

the scores for academic self-esteem, total self-esteem and lie-scale were significantly lower than those observed

in the control group (p<0.006, p=0.03, p<0.0001 respectively) and that the depression scores were significantly

higher in the gifted children (p=0.021). Significant correlations are only observed in the group of gifted children.

The correlation analyses reveal that the lower the general self-esteem, academic self-esteem and total self-

esteem values had fallen, the higher the depression (r=- 0.59, r=- 0.67 and r=- 0.76 respectively), hyperactivity

(r=- 0.47, r=- 0.82 et r=- 0.59) and total psychopathology (r=- 0.56, r=- 0.67 et r=- 0.75) scores were. Similarly,

the lower the general and total self-esteem scores, the higher the aggression scores (r=- 0.56 and r=- 0.68

respectively). Academic self-esteem was the only value to be negatively correlated with communication disorders

(r=- 0.79) and somatization symptoms (r=- 0.49). Finally, social self-esteem, family self-esteem and the lie scale

were not correlated with any CBCL variable. The regression analyses indicate that academic self-esteem is the

variable that explains the depression scores.

  å

The gifted children in our study therefore manifested a lack of self-esteem, and in particular a lack of academic

self-esteem, coupled with depressive symptoms. For Coopersmith (1984), self-esteem is a function of

experienced events in the various sectors in question, while Gibello (1992) sees a link between inhibition or

academic disinvestment and everything that may generate anxiety and/or depression in the subject. We can

hypothesize that the difficulties experienced by these children derive, at least in part, from their specific

characteristics, namely their internal and social dysschynchronism (Terrassier, 1981). Among its other effects,

this dyssynchronism leads to a school life that is often difficult or even chaotic, resulting in a general level of self-

esteem, and more particularly an academic self-esteem, that is lower than the mean. These considerations might

then, in their turn, generate psychopathological symptoms such as depression or hyperactivity (Revol et al.,

2002) which have repercussions that affect the effectiveness of the children's school work. This study suggests

the need to verify whether similar results are observed in gifted children who do not attend special classes and

children who have not yet been identified as gifted. Furthermore, our results indicate that these children are liable

to a specific vulnerability in the emotional and behavioral domains that needs to be emphasized. They stress the

need for early preventive measures to combat the emotional and behavioral difficulties experienced by gifted

children and emphasize the importance of continuing to conduct this type of study in order to explain and specify

the origin of these difficulties.

PMID:

17457290

XPubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

!
   %d &  

!
   

y English Abstract

d & 

y Achievement*
y Adolescent
y Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity/epidemiology*
y Child
y Child, Gifted*
y Depression/epidemiology
y Depression/psychology*
 y Female
y Humans
y Male
y Self Concept*
y Wechsler Scales

©'(
  
 

)
 
 

y Masson (France)

d  

y Depression - MedlinePlus Health Information

y Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder - MedlinePlus Health Information