DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS IN YOUNG-WOMEN OF THE PIEDMONT - PREVALENCE IN RURAL WOMEN

Depression rates in women are twice that of men. In certain groups of women depression exceeds 40 percent. These groups include urban, poor, young mothers, and women who use primary health care facilities. We h ypothesized that rates of depressive symptoms in rural women users of primary care would exceed those reported in population studies. Depres sive symptoms were expected to be associated with common risk factors for depression. To test these hypotheses, 181 rural women, ages 18 to 52, were interviewed by telephone using the Center for Epidemiologic S tudies Depression Scale (CES-D). Of these, 41.4 percent reported depre ssive symptoms exceeding the cutoff score of 16 on the CES-D. The mean CES-D score for the entire sample was 15.3 and was 27.6 for women sco ring over 16 on the CES-D. Young, unemployed, and poorly educated wome n were most likely to report depressive symptoms.