depression in early adolescence: gender differences in prevalence, depressive symptoms,and somatic and emotional comorbidities

The prevalence of depression among adolescents is notably high; however, there has been limited research investigating gender differences in depressive symptoms and somatic and emotional comorbidities in early adolescence. We used convenience sampling and obtained a sample of 1602 students in early adolescence with a mean age of 21.88 and standard deviation of 1.16 in China. Depression, somatic comorbidities (i.e., qi stagnation, qi deficiency, and pain), and emotional comorbidities (i.e., anxiety and hostility) were measured. We found that somatic and emotional comorbidities were moderately to strongly associated with depression in early adolescents, and the detection rates for subthreshold depression (SD) and major depression (MD) were 7.37% and 7.74%, respectively, with a significantly higher prevalence observed in females than in males. In the SD group, males had more concentration problems in depression than females, and females had higher levels of somatic and emotional comorbidities than males. In the SD group, males had more concentration problems and fatigue issues in depression, and females had more suicidal ideation and higher levels of anxiety and somatic pain than males. Therefore, a gender-informed approach to early interventions for depression in adolescents is recommended.