Self-Reported Depression and Risk-Taking Behaviors among Hispanic Adolescents

Abstract

In assessing the relationships between self-reported depression and certain key risk-taking behaviors among a national sample of Hispanic adolescents (N = 935. ages 12 to 19 years), girls who reported depression were significantly more likely to engage in these behaviors than girls who did not report depression. No significant differences were found among boys (n = 470), although they were more likely than girls (n = 465) to take risks regardless of depressive state. These results suggest that depressive symptoms may be a marker for engagement in risk-taking behaviors among Hispanic girls.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Andrews

V. C.

Garrison

C. Z.

Jackson

Addy

C. L.

McKeown

R. E.

(1993) Mother-adolescent agreement on the symptoms and diagnoses of adolescent depression and conduct disorders, Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 32, 731–738.

Baumrind

(1987) A developmental perspective on risk taking in contemporary America. In Irwin

C. E.

Jr. (Ed.), Adolescent social behavior and health, new directions for child development. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Pp. 91–126.

Carlson

G. A.

Cantwell

D. P.

(1980) Unmasking masked depression in children and adolescents. American Journal of Psychiatry, 137, 445–449.

Casper

R. C.

Belanoff

Offer

(1996) Gender differences, but no racial group differences, in self-reported psychiatric symptoms in adolescents. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 35, 500–508.

Chetwynd

(1986) Some characteristics of women smokers. New Zealand Medical Journal, 99, 14–17.

Covey

L. S.

Tam

(1990) Depressive mood, the single-parent home, and adolescent cigarette smoking. American Journal of Public Health, 80, 1330–1333.

Emslie

G. J.

Weinberg

W. A.

Rush

A. J.

Adams

R. M.

(1990) Depressive symptom by self-report in adolescence: Phase I of the development of a questionnaire for depression by self-report. Journal of Child Neurology, 5, 114–121.

Felix-Ortiz

Munoz

Newcomb

M. D.

(1994) The role of emotional distress in drug use among Latino adolescents. Journal of Child and Adolescent Substance Abuse, 3(4), 1–21.

Garrison

C. Z.

Schlucter

M. D.

Schoenbach

V. J.

Kaplan

B. K.

(1989) Epidemiology of depressive symptoms in young adolescents. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 28, 343–351.

10.

Glassman

A. H.

Helzer

J. E.

Covey

L. S.

Cottler

L. B.

Stetner

Tipp

J. E.

Johnson

(1990) Smoking, smoking cessation, and major depression. Journal of the American Medical Association, 264, 1546–1549.

11.

Graham

(1974) Depression in pre-pubertal children. Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology, 16, 340–349.

12.

Greenberg

Holinger

P. C.

Litt

I. F.

Masland

R. P.

(1988) Depression in adolescence. Patient Care, Dec. 15, 65–81.

13.

Hoppe

S. K.

Martin

H. W.

(1986) Patterns of suicide among Mexican Americans and Anglos. Social Psychiatry, 21, 83–88.

14.

Jessor

(1991) Risk behavior in adolescence: a psychosocial framework for understanding and action. Journal of Adolescent Health, 12, 597–605.

15.

Karno

Edgerton

R. B.

(1978) Perceptions of mental illness in a Mexican-American community. In Arguijo

Martinez R.

(Ed.), Hispanic culture and health care. St. Louis: C. V. Mosby. Pp. 156.

16.

Kashani

J. H.

Orvishal

Rosenberg

Reid

J. C.

(1989) Psychopathology in a community sample of children and adolescents: a developmental perspective. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 28, 701–706.

17.

Kashani

J. H.

Simonds

J. F.

(1979) The incidence of depression in children. American Journal of Psychiatry, 136, 1203–1205.

18.

Klerman

G. L.

(1989) Depressive disorders: further evidence for increased medical morbidity and impairment of social functioning. Archives of General Psychiatry, 46, 856–858.

19.

Kovacs

(1989) Affective disorders in children and adolescents. American Psychologist, 44, 209–215.

20.

Marwick

(1988) Even “knowing better” about smoking, other health risks may not deter adolescents. Journal of the American Medical Association, 260, 1512–1513.

21.

Massey

J. T.

(1989) Overview of the National Health Interview Survey and its sample design. Vital and Health Statistics-Series 2: Data Evolution and Methods Research, 110, 1–5.

22.

Moss

A. J.

Allen

K. F.

Giovino

G. G.

(1992) Recent trends in adolescent smoking, smoking-uptake correlates, and expectations about the future. Advance Data from Vital and Health Statistics, 221, 1–27.

23.

Nolen-Hoeksema

(1994) An interactive model for the emergence of gender differences in depression in adolescents. Special issue: affective processes in adolescence. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 4, 519–534.

24.

Office on Smoking and Health, Centers for Disease Control. (1996) Tobacco use and usual source of cigarettes among high school students—USA, 1995. Journal of School Health, 66, 222–224

25.

Ostrov

Offer

Howard

(1989) Gender differences in adolescent symptomology: a normative study, Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 28, 394–398.

26.

Padilla

A. M.

Salgado de

Snyder V. N.

Cervantes

Baezconde-Garbanti

(1991) Self-regulation and risk taking behavior: Hispanic perspectives. In Lipsett

Mitnick

(Eds), Self-regulatory behavior and risk taking: causes and consequences. Norwood, NJ: Ablex. Pp. 89–106.

27.

Perez-Stable

E. J.

Marin

B. V.

Katz

M. H.

(1990) Depressive symptoms and cigarette smoking among Latinos in San Francisco. American Journal of Public Health, 80, 1500–1502.

28.

Prosser

McArdle

(1996) The changing mental health of children and adolescents: evidence for a deterioration? Psychological Medicine, 26, 715–725.

29.

Puig-Antich

(1982) Major depression and conduct disorder behaviors in pre-puberty. Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychology, 21, 118–128.

30.

Roberts

R. E.

(1992) Manifestation of depressive symptoms among adolescents. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 180, 10, 627–633.

31.

Roberts

R. E.

Chen

Y. W.

(1995) Depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation among Mexican-origin and Anglo adolescents. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychology, 34, 81–90.

32.

Roberts

R. E.

Chen

Y. W.

Solovttz

B. L.

(1995) Symptoms of DSM-III-R major depression among Anglo, African, and Mexican American adolescents. Journal of Affective Disorders, 36, 1–2, 1–9.

33.

Roberts

R. E.

Sobhan

(1992) Symptoms of depression in adolescence: comparison of Anglo, African, and Hispanic Americans. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 21, 639–651

34.

Sadler

(1991) Depression in adolescents: context, manifestations, and clinical management. Nursing Clinics of North America, 26, 559–571.

35.

Trieman

K. A.

Beck

K. H.

(1996) Adolescent gender differences in alcohol problem behaviors and the social context of drinking. Journal of School Health, 66, 8, 299–307.

36.

United States Congress, Office of Technology. (1991) Assessment Adolescent Health. Vol. I. Summary and Policy Options. (OTA-H-468) Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, April 1991.

37.

United States Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control, National Center for Health Statistics. (1989) Trends and air-rent status in childhood mortality: United States, 1900–85. [Vital and Health Statistics, Series 3, No. 26 (DHHS Pub. No. (PHS) 89–1410)] Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

38.

Weinberg

W. A.

Emslie

G. J.

(1987) Depression and suicide in adolescents. International Pediatrics, 2, 154–159.