A cross-sectional study on the prevalence of Thai adolescent depression

Abstract

This large-scale study aimed to investigate the prevalence of depression in 4,089 Thai adolescents of both sexes. The participants were between 11 and 16 years old and sampled from all the various regions of Thailand to be representative of the entire country. The Thai translation of the Patient Health Questionnaire for Adolescents (PHQ-A) was employed to collect data. Descriptive statistics and chi-square tests of independence were used for data analysis. The results revealed that the vast majority of the participants (72.2%) had either a mild (44.5%; PHQ-A = 5–9) or at least a moderate form of depression (27.7 %; PHQ-A ≥ 10). Further analysis found that females (χ² = 41.9, p = .000), poor academic results (χ² = 12.7, p = .013), low family income (χ² = 18.0, p = .021), suicidal thoughts (χ² = 811.0, p = .000) and suicide attempts (χ² = 414.4, p = .000) were associated with depression, while age (χ² = 8.9, p = .064) was not associated with depression. Compared to worldwide PHQ-A-based studies of adolescent depression, it would appear that the prevalence of depression in Thai adolescents is common and relatively high.