Abstract

COGOLLO, Zuleima et al. Association between Family Dysfunction and Clinically Important Depressive Symptoms among Students of Cartagena, Colombia. rev.colomb.psiquiatr. [online]. 2009, vol.38, n.4, pp.637-644. ISSN 0034-7450.

Introduction: The presence of clinically important depressive symptoms is the result of multiple factors. It has been pointed out that dysfunctional families relate positively with depressive symptoms with clinical significance. However, data are divergent. Objective: To establish the association between family dysfunction and depressive symptoms among adolescent students of a school in a low socio-economic level sector in Cartagena, Colombia. Method: A cross-sectional study was carried out with secondary school students. Family dysfunction was quantified with the APGAR family questionnaire, and clinically important depressive symptoms with the Zung' scale for depression. Logistic regression was used to control confounding variables. Results: The participants were 424 students from the seventh to the eleventh grade. Average age was 14.7 years (SD=1.6), 59% were girls, and the school grade average was 8.6 (SD=1.3). Family dysfunction was present in 41% and clinically important depressive symptoms were found in 41% of students. There was a lack of association between dysfunctional families and depressive symptoms with clinical significance (OR=1.4, 95%CI 0.92-2.1), after controlling for other variables. Conclusions: Family dysfunction and clinically important depressive symptoms are not associated in students living in areas with low socio-economic levels in Cartagena, Colombia.

Keywords : Depressive symptoms; family relations; adolescent; students; cross-sectional studies.

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