Factors Influencing Adolescent Depression

This assignment delves into the complex issue of adolescent depression by examining its multifaceted causes. It analyzes research studies that investigate genetic predispositions, parental hostility, environmental stressors, maternal prenatal stress, and socio-demographic factors like smoking. The analysis considers both qualitative and quantitative research designs, highlighting key findings and implications for understanding and addressing this prevalent mental health concern in adolescents.

1
PICOT QUESTION
1. Will you have a comparison group or will subjects be their own controls?
Based on the type of research design used and the availability of the subjects,
comparison groups may be available or subjects will be their own controls.
2. Is a ‘time’ appropriate with your question—why or why not?
Time is appropriate in any research as it is the duration data is collected for analysis
Evidence synthesis
Database ex
:Cochran
Study 1 Study 2 Study 3 Study 4 Study 5 synthesis
(P)Populatio
n
Adolescen
ts aged
10-20
Families Birth
Cohorts
Patients who
use Internet to
access medical
treatments
Urban
adolesce
nt
students
Different
studies
comprise
d of
different
target
populatio
n for the
study
(I)Interventi
on
Serotonin
re-uptake
inhibitor
Depression
symptoms
Depressi
ve
sympto
ms
Technology
enhanced
Cognitive
Behaviour
Therapy(CBT)
Smoking
habits
Treatmen
ts were
diagnose
d to
different
subjects
for
analysis
(C)Comparis
on
Subjects
were their
own
controls
Subjects were
their own
controls, gender
Sub-
groups
of ‘low-
risk’
individua
ls
Non-internet
users
Non-
smokers
Based on
the
researche
r, some
had
control
groups
while
subjects
of other
studies
were
their own
controls
(O)Outcome Genetic
variance
direction of effects
between parent
Levels of
depressi
49-item
multiple choice
Domestic
violence,
The
outcomes

2
hostility and child
and adolescent
depression sympt
oms
ve
sympto
ms in the
cohort
test for tutorial
effectiveness;
the system
usability scale
(SUS) for user
satisfaction;
quick inventory
of depressive
symptomatolo
gy–adolescent
version (QIDS-
A-Pat); and
clinician and
patient ratings
on the
therapeutic
alliance scale
for adolescents
(TASA).
stressful
events
from
treatmen
ts were
measure
d based
on the
research
design
and
methods
possible
for the
studies
(T)Time 2 weeks Time 1 and time 2 Period
between
pre-natal
to
adolesce
nt of the
cohort
12 weeks 6
months
Time
frame for
each
research
was
unique
dependin
g on the
research
designs
used

3
Evaluation table
Citati
on
Design Sample
size:
Adequate?
Major variables:
Independent
Dependent
Study findings :
Strengths and
weaknesses
Le
vel
of
evi
de
nc
e
Evidence
synthesis
Eley
et
al.,20
04
Case
study
1990,adeq
uate for
the study
Dependent: Family
environmental risk
Independent: parental
education level, adverse
life events
Strengths: Large
sample size ,
important age-
range and the
sample also gains
power from the
selected extremes
design
Weaknesses : the
number of
individuals in the
four ‘depression by
environmental risk’
groups differed,
with the group in
high environmental
risk but low
depression being
only around half
the size of the
other three groups,
the sex distribution
across the four
groups was not
consistent
Le
vel
II
Further
work is
needed
both with
adolesce
nt
samples
Lewis
et
al.,20
14
Longitud
inal
study
design
316
families
and 1075
twin pairs,
adequate
sample
Dependent: variable:
Environmental effects
Independent :parent
hostility
Strengths: Results
are discussed in
relation to
underlying
explanatory
processes and
clinical
implications,
Findings provide
evidence of an
environmental risk
pathway to
depression
symptoms and
identify patterns of
Le
vel
V
The
evidence
provided
by this is
sufficient
to
conclude
on how
parent-
child
relations
hip
contribut
es to
adolesce

4
variation according
to parent and child
gender
nts
depressio
n
Maxw
ell et
al.,20
17
Qualitati
ve and
quantita
tive
research
design
1711,large
enough for
analysis
Dependent: Depressive
symptoms
Independent: Maternal
factors during pregnancy,
offspring development
factors, gender of the
adolescents
Strengths:
Contributes to
research, it filled
the gap
Le
vel
I
Both
high-risk
males
and
females
reported
elevated
depressiv
e
symptom
s during
adolesce
nce
relative
to their
“low-risk”
counterp
arts.
Kobak
et
al.,20
15
Randomi
zed
control
Trials
72 Dependent: tutorial
effectiveness
Independent: Ratings of
user satisfaction, the
system usability for user
satisfaction and clinician
and patient ratings on the
therapeutic alliance scale
for adolescents
Strengths: The
feasibility of the
technology helps
address the critical
shortage of
therapists trained
on empirically
based treatments.
Le
vel
I
A
significan
t increase
in
knowledg
e of CBT
concepts
was
found
after
completi
ng the
tutorial
Billah
et
al.,20
15
Qualitati
ve and
quantita
tive
research
design
165 Dependent: depression
histories
Independent: socio
demographic factors,
smoking
Strengths: The
Center for
Epidemiologic
Studies Depression
Scale (CES-D) was
used to measure
the presence of
depression
Le
vel
1
The
descriptiv
es
provided
clearly
shows
how
depressio
n is
distribute
d among
the
adolesce
nts and
contributi
ng
factors.

5
References
Billah, S. M. B., & Khan, F. I. (2015). Depression among Urban Adolescent Students of Some Selected
Schools. Faridpur Medical College Journal, 9(2), 73-75.
Eley, T. C., Sugden, K., Corsico, A., Gregory, A. M., Sham, P., McGuffin, P., ... & Craig, I. W. (2004).
Gene–environment interaction analysis of serotonin system markers with adolescent depression.
Molecular psychiatry, 9(10), 908-915.
Kobak, K. A., Mundt, J. C., & Kennard, B. (2015). Integrating technology into cognitive behavior
therapy for adolescent depression: a pilot study. Annals of general psychiatry, 14(1), 37
Lewis, G., Collishaw, S., Thapar, A., & Harold, G. T. (2014). Parent–child hostility and child and
adolescent depression symptoms: the direction of effects, role of genetic factors and gender.
European child & adolescent psychiatry, 23(5), 317-327.
Maxwell, S. D., Fineberg, A. M., Drabick, D. A., Murphy, S. K., & Ellman, L. M. (2017). Maternal
Prenatal Stress and Other Developmental Risk Factors for Adolescent Depression: Spotlight on Sex
Differences. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 1-17