Prevalence of Childhood and Adolescent Depression in the Community

Data from a cross-sectional community survey of 2852 children were used to provide estimates of the prevalence of a 'DSM-III-like' major depressive syndrome in children aged 6 to 16. The severity of symptoms required to define a 'case' was varied to generate three levels of diagnostic certainty (DC). The overall estimates of prevalence made with high DC were 0.6% for pre-adolescents and 1.8% for adolescents. Corresponding rates determined with …