The epidemiological characteristics of depressive symptoms in the left-behind children and adolescents of Chongqing in China

Objective: To assess the prevalence rate of depressive symptoms in left behind participants aged 7-17 years and to explore the associated socio-demographic and communication factors. Methods: Participants were 4857 left behind children and adolescents in Chongqing. They were screened for depressive symptoms using a 27 item Children's Depression Inventory (CM) and social demographic variables were evaluated with a structured scale. Uncorrected Pearson chi-square test and logistic regression were applied to analyzing the data. Results: The total prevalence rate of depressive symptoms was 24.8%. Significant difference was found in the prevalence rate of depressive symptoms among groups of different income, grade, age, left behind subtypes, and different frequency, ways and topics of parent child communication. We found that the risk factors for depression were absence of parents, low frequency of parent child communication, and communication by letter or about sensitive topics. The grade group 2-3 and age group 16-17 were at a higher risk of depression than all other grade and age subgroups. The protective factors for depression were high-income, high frequency of parent-child communication, communication by telephone or about such topic as teaming experience, school life, and feelings. Limitations: Self-report bias and cross-sectional nature of the sampling are major limitations of this study. Conclusions: The prevalence rate of depressive symptoms among left-behind children and adolescents in Chongqing is much higher than previously reported prevalence in other regions of China. The risk and protective factors for depression among left-behind children and adolescents are worthy of public attention. (C) 2015 Published by Elsevier B.V.