Prevalence and associated factors of depression among adolescent boys and girls in Bangladesh: findings from a nationwide survey

Abstract

ObjectiveTo assess the prevalence of and factors associated with depression among adolescent boys and girls.DesignWe conducted a nationwide cross-sectional study.SettingThis study was carried out in 82 randomly selected clusters (57 rural, 15 non-slum urban and 10 slums) from eight divisions of Bangladesh.ParticipantsWe interviewed 4907 adolescent boys and 4949 adolescent girls.Primary and secondary outcome measuresThe primary outcome measure was ‘any depression’ and the secondary outcome measures were types of depression: no or minimal, mild, moderate, moderately severe and severe.ResultsThe overall prevalence of no or minimal, mild, moderate, moderately severe and severe depression was 75.5%, 17.9%, 5,4%, 1.1% and 0.1%, respectively. Across most of the sociodemographic, lifestyle and anthropometric strata, the prevalence of any depression was higher among adolescent girls. In both sexes, depression was associated with higher age, higher maternal education, paternal occupation e.g., business, absence of a 6–9-year-old member in the household, food insecurity, household consumption of unfortified oil, household use of non-iodised salt, insufficient physical activity (adjusted odds ratio, AOR: 1.24 for boys, 1.44 for girls) and increased television viewing time e.g., ≥121 minute/day (AOR: 1.95 for boys, 1.99 for girls). Only among boys, depression was also associated with higher paternal education e.g., complete secondary and above (AOR: 1.42), absence of another adolescent member in the household (AOR: 1.34), household use of solid biomass fuel (AOR: 1.39), use of any tobacco products (AOR: 2.17), and consumption of processed food (AOR: 1.24). Only among girls, non-slum urban residence, Muslim religion, and household size ≤4 were also associated with depression.ConclusionThe prevalence of depression among adolescent boys and girls is high in Bangladesh. In most sociodemographic, lifestyle and anthropometric strata, the prevalence is higher among girls. In this age group, depression is associated with a number of sociodemographic and lyfestyle factors. The government of Bangladesh should consider these findings while integrating adolescent mental health in the existing and future programmes.

Psychosocial health of school-going adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic: Findings from a nationwide survey in Bangladesh

“…In the present study, girls were more likely than boys to have higher odds of depression, which is consistent with earlier reports from Bangladesh [ 3 , 4 ]. A previous study in China among school-going adolescents also reported finding that females had higher prevalence of depression and anxiety compared to males [ 60 ].…”

“…In the current study, participants’ age was positively associated with depression and anxiety. This is consistent with both the pre-COVID and pandemic research from Bangladesh and elsewhere [ 3 , 12 , 13 , 51 ]. Common mental health problems (e.g., depression, anxiety, behavioral problems) are more prevalent in older children associated with puberty- and hormone-related physical and psychological changes [ 1 , 56 ].…”

Validity and reliability of the Patient Health Questionnaire scale (PHQ-9) among university students of Bangladesh

“…Furthermore, depressive disorders caused about 50 million Years Lived with Disability (YLD) globally in 2015 [ 1 ]. Symptoms of depression is particularly prevalent among university students [ 4 – 6 ]. A study indicated that approximately 82% of university students in Bangladesh were suffering from mild to severe symptoms of depression, a rate which is higher than those reported in the studies conducted on other general population [ 6 – 8 ].…”

“…Symptoms of depression is particularly prevalent among university students [ 4 – 6 ]. A study indicated that approximately 82% of university students in Bangladesh were suffering from mild to severe symptoms of depression, a rate which is higher than those reported in the studies conducted on other general population [ 6 – 8 ]. University students go through significant changes in their emotional (e.g., loneliness, personal autonomy) and physical environment (e.g., transition from college to university) [ 9 ].…”

“…In academic setting, validation of PHQ-9 scale was performed among university students of Korea [ 29 ], China [ 30 ], Nigeria [ 31 ] etc. In the context of Bangladesh, PHQ-9 has been widely used in various studies as a screening tool for depressive symptoms among adolescents, adults and university students [ 6 , 32 – 35 ]. However, while Dhira et al (2021) have explored the psychometric properties of Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) for a sample of university students, to the best of our knowledge, no such study has been conducted for the case of PHQ-9 [ 36 ].…”