@article{ref1,
title="Assessment of depressive symptoms in Japanese school children and adolescents using the Birleson Depression Self-Rating Scale",
journal="International journal of psychiatry in medicine",
year="2006",
author="Denda, Kenzo and Kako, Yuki and Kitagawa, Norihiko and Koyama, Tsukasa",
volume="36",
number="2",
pages="231-241",
abstract="OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of depressive symptoms in children and adolescents in the general Japanese population using a depression self-rating scale and determine whether this prevalence varies according to age, gender, or region. METHOD: The Birleson Depression Self-Rating Scale for children (DSRS) was used to examine the extent to which depressive tendencies were present among 2,453 elementary and middle-school children (6 to 15 years old) in two cities in Japan. RESULTS: The mean DSRS score was high at 8.75 +/- 5.66. A significant increase in score was observed with increasing age. There were no significant differences between regions. Using a DSRS cutoff score of 15 points as a risk of depression, the scores of 14.9% of the subjects exceeded the cutoff. CONCLUSIONS: As determined using the DSRS, a high proportion of Japanese children and adolescents have depressive tendencies.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0091-2174",
doi="",
url="http://dx.doi.org/"
}