The Group Differences with or without Depressive Symptom-Related Difficulty

Lee, Hye Kyung; Kim, Jun Won; Song, Yul Mai; Lee, Kounseok

Abstract

OBJECTIVES
The purpose of this study was to examine the differences according to depressive symptom-related difficulty status.
METHODS
2828 participants were a divided into depressive symptom-related difficulty group (difficult group, n = 774), and a non-depressive symptom-related difficulty group (not difficult group, n = 2054). The psychological character of the participants were assessed using the Korean version of the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12), and Conner-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC). Statistical analyses were done using t-test, chi-square, and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA).
RESULTS
Compared with the no difficulty group, the difficulty group reported significantly higher score in all items of PHQ-9. The score of "feeling tired" was the highest and the score of "suicidal ideation" is the lowest in both groups. ANCOVA analysis that is adjusted with the total score of PHQ-9 showed the differences in SWLS, GHQ-12, and CD-RISC scores between the difficulty group and the no difficulty group.
CONCLUSIONS
The findings suggest that there are different characters on PHQ-9, SWLS, GHQ-12, and CD-RISC according to depressive symptom-related difficulty. Therefore, it is required not only to evaluate depressive symptoms in patients with depression, but also the depressive symptom-related difficulty to understand these differences.