South African adolescents’ beliefs about depression

Shilpa Aggarwal, Michael Berk, Lian Taljard and Zane Wilson

International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 2016, vol. 62, issue 2, 198-200

Abstract: Purpose: This study explores the depression literacy in adolescents in South Africa. Method: A semi-structured questionnaire was administered to 2,050 students from disadvantaged secondary schools in Johannesburg region. Result: A total of 90.9% reported depression as an illness, and 41.4% considered it a sign of weakness. Parents and siblings followed by friends and teachers were the preferred support options. The indicators of depression identified were socialisation pattern changes (24.6%), sad mood (23.6%), sleeping and eating pattern changes (18.3%), irritable behaviour (12.5%) and other health risk behaviours (9.7%). Conclusion: The majority considered depression an illness. An improvement in adolescent mental health literacy will increase access to help when needed.

Keywords: Depression; adolescents; South Africa; beliefs (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0020764015618226 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:socpsy:v:62:y:2016:i:2:p:198-200

DOI: 10.1177/0020764015618226

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in International Journal of Social Psychiatry
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().