Major depression, substance use, and resilience among female adolescents in institutional care

ABSTRACT

Objective

This study compared female adolescents in institutional care (AICs) diagnosed with major depression (MD) or substance use disorder (SUD) with those who were not. In addition, we examined the protective effects of resilience, coping skills, and social support on SUD and MD.

Methods

Participants included 49 female AICs (11–18 years) and a control group of 49 girls of similar age. Psychiatric diagnoses were made using the Kiddie Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia-Present and Lifetime Version (K-SADS-PL). In addition, participants completed self-report questionnaires: Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders Child Version (SCARED), The Child and Youth Psychological Resilience Scale, KIDCOPE, Social Support Appraisals Scale (SSAS), Children’s Depression Inventory (CDI).

Results

AICs were found to have more psychopathologies than the control group. Higher resilience, SSAS-friends scores, and more positive coping styles were associated with lower CDI scores in AICs with MD. CDI and SCARED scores were higher, and SSAS- family, friends, teacher scores, and positive coping styles were lower in the AICs with SUD.

Conclusions

Resilience, increased social support from friends, and positive coping styles showed negative relationships with MD and SUD in AICs. Social support from teachers and family was negatively associated with SUD in AICs.

KEYWORDS:

• Adolescents
• coping styles
• perceived social support
• depression
• substance use
• resilience

Authors contributions

U.G. collected the data, conceived of the study, performed the statistical analyses, and drafted the manuscript; M.E. collected the data and critically revised the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethical approval

Research procedures complied with universal ethical standards and the tenets of the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000. The Nigde Omer Halisdemir University Research Ethics Committee approved the study by the protocol number 2019/01–09.

Informed consent

A number of measures were taken in order to ensure compliance with ethical standards. Children were informed at institution about the research and gave written consent. Both children and children’s legal guardians could withdraw children from participation at any time. Children who did not want to participate themselves, or who were unable to fill in the questionnaire, did not participate.

Data sharing and declaration

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.