[Relationship of depressive symptoms and life events in a school-age population].

INTRODUCTION

Few Hungarian studies have been published about the prevalence of depressive symptoms and their risk factors in childhood. In the present study, we examined the prevalence of depressive symptoms and the importance of stressful life events as risk factors of depression in children.

METHODS

We collected data in 9 elementary schools in two regions of Hungary. The data of 2652 students were analysed. Depressive symptoms were measured by the shortened version of the Child Depression Inventory (CDI) and life events were collected from the parents through self-report questionnaire.

RESULTS

The mean depressive score of the sample by the CDI was 3.61. 14.9% of the students had a score of 7 or higher, which implies an increased risk of clinical depression. Of the 29 life events which were examined, children experienced 2.35 on average. We found significant positive correlation between depressive symptoms and stressful life events. This effect of life events was not diminished significantly by the age and sex of the child.

CONCLUSION

Based on our results we can conclude that the risk of depression increases in parallel with the number of stressful life events experienced by the child.