Female high-reassurance seekers are at risk for adolescent depression

ABSTRACT

Objective: Depression is prevalent among adolescents, affecting about 11% of the United States population ages 12–17. It is therefore pertinent to better understand the factors associated with adolescent depression in order to prevent the development of symptoms and minimise negative psychosocial and developmental outcomes. Methods: We utilised a self-report survey among 84 adolescents to examine the associations between reassurance seeking, empathy, cognitive coping strategies, and depressive symptoms, among high-school students. Results: Female sex and high reassurance seeking were significantly associated with depressive symptoms. Discussion: Our study suggests that regular screening for reassurance seeking and depressive symptoms among adolescents, as well as ongoing psychosocial education for parents, teachers, and administrators, may help to identify those in need of intervention.

KEYWORDS:

• Adolescent
• depression
• sex differences
• empathy
• reassurance seeking
• cognitive coping

Acknowledgments

This work was conducted as part of a Master of Science thesis project of A.K. Vorndran Hedrick under the supervision of P.A. Geller at Drexel University. We are grateful to the principal, students, staff, and faculty of Alliance City High School in Ohio for participating in this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Conflict of interests

We declare no conflict of interest. This research received no grant funding from agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.