ADSENSE READY
HEALTH - According to the study, records of depression increased 37 percent since the end of 2014, with one in six teenage girls reported having experienced depression in the past year.
Led by Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, researchers analyzed the data of the National Survey on Drug Use and Health in adolescents and young adults in 2005-2014 to see the trend of depression.
Known as clinical depression, depressive episodes usually occur when a person experiences a drastic mood swings, feeling depressed, loss of interest or pleasure in daily activities, consistently for at least two weeks.
In total, the study participants consisted of 176 245 adolescents aged 12 to 17 years and 180 459 adults aged 18 to 25 years. Participants were told what are the symptoms of depression and were asked to report whether they had experienced any of the symptoms in the previous year.
The report reveals that in 2005, approximately 8.7 percent of teens have experienced a depressive episode in the past year, with the figure rising to 11.3 percent in 2014.
Among teenage girls, this figure is even higher, up from 13.1 percent in 2005 to 17.3 percent in 2014.
Although the findings were only based on self-reports rather than on clinical diagnosis, which might just be able to have an error, the result is still alarming.
Lead researcher Ramin Mojtabai commented, "This shows us that the more teens who do not receive treatment for depression well."
"We, especially parents, need to make some breakthroughs in mental health care for this population. It's important to find ways and help teens manage their depression in a healthy way. "
Although the researchers are not sure about what is driving an increase in depression, especially among young girls, they mention the use of mobile phones could be one of the main causes.
The use of mobile phones unhealthy among teenagers has been associated with feelings of depression due to the potential for cyberbullying through mobile phones, especially among adolescent girls who use mobile phones more frequently and intensively than teenage boys.
