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Symptomatic expression of depression among Jewish adolescents: effects of gender and age

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Abstract

Background

Depression symptomatology was assessed with the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) in a sample of Jewish adolescents, in order to compare the frequency and severity of depression with non-Jewish adolescents as well as examine gender difference of the expression of depressive symptomatology.

Method

Subjects comprised 475 students from Jewish private schools, aged 13–17 years, who were compared with an age-matched non-Jewish sample (n = 899). Kendall’s definition was adopted to classify these adolescents according to level of depressive symptoms. The frequency of depression was calculated for ethnicity, gender and age strata. Discriminant analysis and principal component analysis were performed to assess the importance of depression-specific and non-specific items, along with the factor structure of the BDI, respectively.

Results

The overall mean score on the BDI in the Jewish and the non-Jewish sample was 9.0 (SD = 6.4) and 8.6 (SD = 7.2), respectively. Jewish girls and boys had comparable mean BDI scores, contrasting with non-Jewish sample, where girls complained more of depressive symptoms than boys (p < 0.001). The frequency of depression, adopting a BDI cutoff of 20, was 5.1% for the Jewish sample and 6.3% for the non-Jewish sample. The frequency of depression for Jewish girls and boys was 5.5% (SE  = 1.4) and 4.6% (SE  =  1.5), respectively. On the other hand, the frequency of depression for non-Jewish girls and boys was 8.4% (SE  = 1.2) and 4.0% (SE  = 1.0), respectively. The female/male ratio of frequency of BDI-depression was 1.2 in the Jewish sample, but non-Jewish girls were twice (2.1) as likely to report depression as boys. Discriminant analysis showed that the BDI highly discriminates depressive symptomatology among Jewish adolescents, and measured specific aspects of depression. Factor analysis revealed two meaningful factors for the total sample and each gender (cognitive-affective dimension and somatic dimension), evidencing a difference between Jewish boys and Jewish girls in the symptomatic expression of depression akin to non-Jewish counterparts.

Conclusions

Ethnic-cultural factor might play a role in the frequency, severity and symptomatic expression of depressive symptoms in Jewish adolescents. The lack of gender effect on depression, which might persist from adolescence to adulthood among Jewish people, should be investigated in prospective studies.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Psychiatry (LIM-23), Medical School, University of São Paulo, Rua Dr. Ovídio Pires de Campos, 785, térreo, CEP 05403-010, São Paulo, SP, Brazil

    Yuan-Pang Wang MD, PhD, Laura Helena Andrade MD, PhD & Clarice Gorenstein PhD

  2. Dept. of Psychiatry, Medical School of Santo Amaro, UNISA, São Paulo, Brazil

    Yuan-Pang Wang MD, PhD

  3. Institute of Psychology, São Paulo University, São Paulo, Brazil

    Luciana Pajecki Lederman

  4. Dept. of Pharmacology, Institute of Biomedical Sciences; LIM-23, Laboratory of Psychopharmacology, Institute of Psychiatry, HCFMUSP, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

    Clarice Gorenstein PhD

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  1. Yuan-Pang Wang MD, PhD
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  2. Luciana Pajecki Lederman
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  3. Laura Helena Andrade MD, PhD
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  4. Clarice Gorenstein PhD
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Correspondence to Clarice Gorenstein PhD.

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Wang, YP., Lederman, L.P., Andrade, L.H. et al. Symptomatic expression of depression among Jewish adolescents: effects of gender and age. Soc Psychiat Epidemiol 43, 79–86 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-007-0270-4

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