Pumariega A J, Johnson N P, Sheridan D, Cuffe S P
University of South Carolina School of Medicine, William S. Hall Psychiatric Institute, Columbia 29202, USA.
Cult Divers Ment Health. 1996;2(2):115-23.
Concerns about the cultural competence of child mental health services has led to the examination of racial/ethnic and gender differences in the prevalence of psychiatric symptoms. This study examines racial and gender differences in depressive and substance abuse symptomatology in a high-risk population of adolescents living in five residential group homes in South Carolina. We surveyed 299 youth ages 12 to 17, including 101 African American and 198 Whites. They completed the Centers for Epidemiological Studies-Depression scale (CES-D) and questions on substance abuse, demographics, and psychosocial functioning. No significant differences were found in the percentages of Whites and African Americans scoring above 16+ and 23+ cutoff scores on the CES-D, but significant gender differences were identified. Neither race nor race by age group interactions were found to be significantly correlated in regression analyses with CES-D score nor multiple substance use, whereas gender (p < .001) and school performance were significantly correlated with CES-D score, and poverty was correlated with multiple substance use. Our results indicate that levels of depressive symptomatology as measured by the CES-D are much more sensitive to gender than to race in high-risk populations. Different gender cutoffs are indicated when using systematic instruments in the measurement of depressive symptoms.
对儿童心理健康服务文化能力的担忧促使人们对精神症状患病率中的种族/族裔和性别差异进行研究。本研究调查了居住在南卡罗来纳州五个集体家庭中的高危青少年群体在抑郁和药物滥用症状方面的种族和性别差异。我们对299名年龄在12至17岁的青少年进行了调查，其中包括101名非裔美国青少年和198名白人青少年。他们完成了流行病学研究中心抑郁量表（CES-D）以及关于药物滥用、人口统计学和心理社会功能的问题。在CES-D量表上得分高于16分及23分临界值的白人和非裔美国人百分比方面未发现显著差异，但发现了显著的性别差异。在回归分析中，无论是种族还是种族与年龄组的交互作用，均未发现与CES-D得分或多种物质使用存在显著相关性，而性别（p <.001）和学业成绩与CES-D得分显著相关，贫困与多种物质使用相关。我们的结果表明，在高危人群中，通过CES-D测量的抑郁症状水平对性别的敏感度远高于对种族的敏感度。在使用系统工具测量抑郁症状时，需要设定不同的性别临界值。
