[Depressive symptoms during adolescence: a study on psychosocial factors in a sample of teenage students in a city in Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil]. / Sintomas depressivos na adolescência: estudo sobre fatores psicossociais em amostra de escolares de um município do Rio de Janeiro, Brasil.

ABSTRACT

This study's objective was to identify individual, social, and familial risk factors for depressive symptoms in adolescent students. The study included 1,923 seventh and eighth-grade (junior high) students and first and second-year high school students in public and private schools from a city in Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil. Depressive symptoms were evaluated with the SRQ-20 scale (Harding, 1980) and resilience scale (Wagnild & Young, 1993). Hierarchical logistic regression was the analytical method used. Symptoms of depression were present in 10% of adolescents. Girls had more than twice the odds of presenting these symptoms (CI 1.58-3.67); adolescent children of divorced parents had 73% greater odds of depression (CI 1.16-2.57); victims of serious physical abuse by mothers had 6.49 times the odds (CI 2.07-20.30); those with low self-esteem, 6.43 greater odds (CI 2.63-15.68); and those displaying dissatisfaction with their lives, 3.19 greater odds (CI 2.08-4.89). The findings highlight the urgent need to improve public health policies for adolescents, especially at the preventive level, including psychosocial strategies with the development of a treatment network.