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Gender differences in depressive symptoms in Thai adolescents

Abstract Background: Studies found that males and females differ in many aspects of psychiatric disorders, such as in prevalence, symptoms, and symptom severity. Objective: We studied gender differences in depressive symptoms in Thai adolescents. Methods: Through stratified random sampling 1,220 students in grade 10 to 12 from 10 high schools in Bangkok were recruited for the Study of Depression in Thai Youth Project. The Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), Thai version, which is a 20-item self-report questionnaire, was used to assess depression. In this report, the response to CES-D were compared between boys (n = 473) and girls (n = 747). Results: By using the score of 22 as a cut-off for significant depression, 19% of boys and 17% of girls were found to be depressed. The mean CES-D score of boys was 15.0 (SD = 7.1) and of girls was 15.5 (SD = 6.8). However, the difference did not have statistical significance. Depressive symptom prevalence in both groups was compared. Boys were significantly more likely than girls to view life as failure (36.7% vs. 23.2%, p < 0.05), to not feel happy (43.4% vs. 27.4%, p <0.05), and to not enjoy life (55.6% vs. 36.0%, p <0.01). Girls were significantly more likely to have crying spells (45.3% vs. 10.0%, p <0.001), and to feel sad (54.6% vs. 36.6%, p = 0.01). The comparison of symptom severity revealed that boys scored higher in cognitive symptoms and girls scored higher in mood symptoms. CES-D subscales were compared. Boys scored higher in positive affect subscale and girls scored higher in negative affect and somatic subscales. The difference was also significant even in the nondepressed group. Conclusion: There is no significant difference in the prevalence and severity of depression in both genders. The significant difference lies in the symptom profiles. Girls have more mood and somatic symptoms while boys have more cognitive symptoms and lack of well-being. This difference also exists in the non-depressed group. The findings have important implications in both diagnosis and treatment of depression in adolescents.