School factors and the emergence of depressive symptoms among young Norwegian adolescents

The aims of this study were to examine correlates of self-reported depressive symptoms within the school area, and possible predictors of change in depressive symptom levels over a 1-year period in a large representative sample of 12 to 15-year-old adolescents in central Norway. The school variables were: school stress, class wellbeing, teacher support, and grades. Possible confounding factors were age, SES, ethnicity, and parental divorce. We also examined the strengths of these relationships. In the cross-sectional multivariate analyses of the whole sample, at time-point one (T-1), all four school factors were independently associated with depressive symptom levels at small to moderate levels. In the longitudinal multivariate analyses of the whole sample, self-reported depressive symptom levels at time-point two (T-2) were predicted by depressive symptom levels at T-1, gender and teacher support. For girls, three of the school variables significantly predicted depressive symptom levels at T-2, while this was not the case for boys. Prevention in schools might be of importance.