Demographical and Psychological Determinants of Depression, Among a Sample of Iranian Male Adolescents

Abstract

Background: The prevalence of depression especially among youths is increasingly high. The present study is aimed to identify some demographic and psychological factors such as self‑efficacy and perceived stress that may be related to depression among male adolescents.

Methods: Overall, 402 adolescent were selected for participation in the study using multistage sampling method. The participants completed a questionnaire including demographic, depression, self‑efficacy, and perceived stress data. A multiple regression analysis and the Pearson correlation test were used for data analysis. SPSS version 17 software was used for performing analyses.

Results: The mean age of the adolescents was 15.44 (SD = 0.68) years. The total mean score of depression was 16.02 ｱ 9.14 and 153 (38.1%) of participants showed depressive symptoms. Results showed that high levels of depression were associated with low level of self‑efficacy and high level of perceived stress; also some demographic variables such as fathers’ job and academic situation can be related to depression among male adolescents.

Conclusions: Self‑efficacy and perceived stress can be related to depression but the role of stress and self‑efficacy in the etiology and forming of depression in adolescent are discussed. Therefore, more studies for approval of these associations should be considered.

Keywords: Adolescents, depression, perceived stress, self‑efficacy