Korean J Child Health Nurs.  2005 Oct;11(4):436-443.

The Relationship between Depression and Health Behavior in Adolescents

• Park NH
• Kim MO

Abstract

PURPOSE
This study was done to explore the levels of depression experienced by adolescents, and to compare health behavior between depressed and non-depressed adolescents. METHOD: Participants were chosen by a stratified random sampling of adolescents in the second grade of a high school in P city. Levels of depression and health behavior of the students were measured using questionnaires. Data collection was done in May, 2002. Data were analyzed with descriptive statistics and logistic regression using the SPSS WIN 10.0 Program.
RESULTS
The prevalence of depression (CES-D) among the students was 53.5%. In multiple logistic regression analysis, sex (OR 1.80, 95% CI 1.35-2.41), school performance, mid (OR 1.68, 95% CI 1.48-1.97) and low (OR 1.42, 95% CI 1.29-1.61), drinking (OR 1.47, 95% CI 1.09-1.98), and not eating breakfast (OR 1.74, 95% CI 1.56-1.97) were significantly higher in students in the depressed group than those in the non-depressed group.
CONCLUSIONS
Based on the findings, we concluded that many adolescent experience depression and depression in adolescents is significantly related to behaviors of smoking, alcohol, no exercise, and not eating breakfast. However this study did not address causality among these variables. There, further research, such as a longitudinal study, is needed to identify causality among the variables.

MeSH Terms

Adolescent*
Breakfast
Data Collection
Depression*
Drinking
Eating
Health Behavior*
Humans
Logistic Models
Prevalence
Smoke
Smoking
Child Health
Surveys and Questionnaires
Smoke