Depressive Symptoms in Adolescents Living in Rural America

Details

• Personal Author:
  Peden A ; Rayens MK ; Reed DB
• Description:
  The purposes of this pilot study were to examine prevalence of depressive symptoms among rural adolescents and identify related social and environmental variables. Methods: A convenience sample of 299 14- to 18-year-old agriculture class students at 5 rural high schools in Kentucky and Iowa completed a survey that included demographic information, family farm history, experience with suicide, perception of school environment, and indicators of farm injuries and risky behaviors. Participants also completed the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) as well as scales to assess the number of major life events in the last year, active coping use, and family closeness. Findings: The prevalence of a high level of depressive symptoms (CES-D > or = 16) in this sample was 34%. Nine percent had seriously considered suicide in the last year. Unlike previous reports, boys reported as many depressive symptoms as girls. Although the literature reports that engaging in risky behavior is associated with depressive symptoms, the only risky behavior linked with depressive symptoms in this sample was operating a 4-wheel all-terrain vehicle. Other predictors of depressive symptoms included poor family relationships and poor active coping. Conclusions: Interventions to identify and prevent depressive symptoms in rural adolescents are needed. Boosting active coping and improving family function may also prevent the development of clinical depression in rural adolescents. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Agriculture Family Farmers Mental Health Occupational Health Safety Workplace
• Keywords:
  Agricultural-industry Agricultural-workers Children Families Life-support-systems Mental-health Workers Workplace-monitoring
• ISSN:
  0890-765X
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Kentucky ; OSHA Region 4
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  310-316
• Volume:
  21
• Issue:
  4
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20034093
• Citation:
  J Rural Health 2005 Oct; 21(4):310-316
• Contact Point Address:
  A. R. Peden, College of Nursing, University of Kentucky, 760 Rose Street, Lexington, KY 40536-0232
• Email:
  arpede01@uky.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2006
• Performing Organization:
  University of Kentucky
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20010930
• Source Full Name:
  The Journal of Rural Health
• End Date:
  20270929
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:3c38a8d27c64b5437208067340aec1c33d1074ebb388161c74d4c3201d6cbeb5db2b2ace7d05c97062d7b3ead3506303a0b33438f470cf02f50a07d06d9f86d2
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/189463/cdc_189463_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 87.47 KB ]