DETERMINANTS OF DEPRESSION IN FEMALE ADOLESCENTS AND YOUTH

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Abstract

Introduction: Adolescents and youth are the main human resource for a nation. Depression is a grave yard for hopes and prosperity making the generation sad, inactive, and having suicidal thoughts. Thus every effort should be made to create awareness and eliminate depression from our youth. Objective: To find out the psychosocial determinants of depression in female adolescent and youth. Design: Case control study. Place and duration: Lahore cant urban area, from March, 2007 to July, 2007. Material and methods: It was a community based case control study. Total 400 young females were selected. 200 cases of depression and 200 in the control group. An interview schedule including a structured, pre-tested and bilingual questionnaire was used after taking consent. SPSS and Epi info were used for data analysis. Chi square test was applied. Results: In this study the depression in adolescent and young females had statistically significant relationship with unemployment, underage marriage, early child bearing, infertility, violence, sexual harassment(p<0.05). The family history of psychiatric ill ness in first degree relatives had no statistically significant association with depression in these females (p>0.05). Conclusion: The statistically significant psychosocial determinants of depression in young and adolescent females should be rectified by creating awareness in the society