CHILDREN WITH SYMPTOMS OF DEPRESSION - WHAT DO THE ADULTS SEE

In order to find out whether parents and teachers report depressive sy mptoms in children with self-reported depression and which features ar e connected with sought psychiatric care, a sample of 5682 prepubertal children was assessed with the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI), the Rutter A2 scale (RPI) and Rutter B2 scale (RB). In stepwise regre ssion analysis of parent report, depressed mood, unpopularity, social withdrawal, disobedience, inattentiveness, and stealing were associate d with high CDI scores. The items of the teacher report associated wit h high CDI scores included poor school performance, restlessness, soma tic complaints, unresponsiveness, being bullied, and absenteeism from school. Although the parents and teachers readily saw and reported dep ressive symptoms in children, only for a small minority of children wi th multiple depressive symptoms had psychiatric care been sought or ev en considered. The symptoms associated with sought psychiatric care fo r depressed children were somatic (soiling, asthma) and behavioural (d isobedient, restless). The results indicate that a large number of chi ldren with multiple depressive symptoms are left without necessary psy chiatric assessment and help.