Factors associated with depressed mood among adolescents in Northern Ireland

This paper presents data on the pattern of self-reported depressed mood amo ng a sample of 887 11-15 year-old secondary school students living in North ern Ireland. In addition, the paper examines the association between depres sed mood and stressful life events, family support and perceived control. A nalysis of variance of mean depression scores did not reveal main or intera ction effects for age (school year) or sex. However, a school year x sex in teraction effect was found when the variation in depression scores due to f amily cohesiveness (or support) was partialled out in an ANCOVA. In years 1 and 2, males reported higher mean depression scores than females, whereas the pattern was reversed in years 3 and 4. The covariates of stressful life events and perceived control did not significantly affect the pattern of m ean depression scores. This would tend to suggest that the sex difference i n depression found consistently with adults may begin to emerge in middle a dolescence; and that the nature and level of family relationships may influ ence the prevalence and pattern of adolescent depression. The study found a higher mean depression score and a larger proportion of 'cases' (27%) than has been recorded in studies of young adolescents living outside Northern Ireland. However, the extent to which higher levels of symptomatology may b e related to the politically unsettled nature of Northern Irish society is unclear. Copyright (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.