DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS OVER 1ST-GRADE AND THEIR RESPONSE TO A DEVELOPMENTAL EPIDEMIOLOGICALLY BASED PREVENTIVE TRIAL AIMED AT IMPROVING ACHIEVEMENT

This article is about the course of depressive symptoms during a class room-based randomized preventive field trial aimed at improving readin g achievement among first-grade children in an urban population of mix ed ethnicity and lower middle to low socioeconomic status. In the fall , children reported high levels of depressive symptoms, a risk factor for major depressive disorder. There was a linear relationship in the fall between depressive symptoms and achievement test scores. Among ma le children in intervention classrooms whose gain in achievement was a t least the national average, depression from fall to spring was decre ased, compared to those whose achievement gain was lower. Among female children both in the control and in the intervention classrooms, ther e was also a significant relationship between gain in achievement and the course of depression.