@article{ref1,
title="Self-reported symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress in Portuguese primary school-aged children",
journal="BMC psychiatry",
year="2020",
author="Costa, Diogo and Cunha, Marina and Ferreira, Cláudia and Gama, Augusta and Machado-Rodrigues, Aristides M. and Rosado-Marques, Vítor and Nogueira, Helena and Silva, Maria-Raquel G. and Padez, Cristina",
volume="20",
number="1",
pages="87-87",
abstract="BACKGROUND: Symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress experienced during childhood might have a negative impact on development. This study explores factors associated with such symptoms among Portuguese primary school-aged children. <br><br>METHODS: A sample of children (n = 1022, mean age = 8.77 years old) was recruited in public and private schools from the cities of Coimbra, Lisbon and Porto, Portugal. The children's version of the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-C) was self-administered. Multivariate logistic regression models were fitted to measure associations (expressed as Odds Ratio, OR and 95% Confidence Intervals, CI) between each DASS-C subscale, dichotomized by its 4th vs. 3rd or less quartiles (symptoms increase with scores), and covariates: child sex, age, socioeconomic status (SES), sports activity beyond school, children self-assessed health status, child and mother's body mass index and mother's DASS scores. <br><br>RESULTS: Age was negatively associated with anxiety symptoms (adjusted OR, 95% CI: 0.70, 0.57-0.87) and girls, compared to boys, presented lower odds of depressive and stress symptoms (adjusted OR, 95% CI: 0.65, 0.47-0.92 and 0.57, 0.41-0.80, respectively). A low socioeconomic status was associated with more frequent symptoms of stress (adjusted OR, 95%CI for low compared to high SES: 1.61, 1.01-2.56). Children with poorer self-assessed health status and whose mothers scored higher in the DASS also presented significantly higher odds of scoring in the 4th quartile (vs. 3rd or less) of the three DASS-C subscales. <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest the need to tailor preventive efforts targeting childhood mental health symptoms.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1471-244X",
doi="10.1186/s12888-020-02498-z",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12888-020-02498-z"
}