Depression in children is a topic that many researchers have spent a considerable amount of time on and yet we still have a long way to go in dealing with the best method of treatment and diagnosis for children with depression. Prevalence of major depression in children is on the rise. The rates vary from 2% to 5% in community surveys and between 10 and 20 percent in clinical populations (Wicks-Nelson, 1997). Of course age and gender also play a role in these estimates.
"Depression is a mood disorder in which the individual is unhappy, demoralized, self-derogatory, and bored. The individual does not feel well, loses stamina easily, often has a poor appetite, and it listless and unmotivated" (Santrock, 1998). This definition applies to adults and children, though children's depressive symptoms are also mixed with a broader array of behaviors, such as: aggression, failing in school, anxiety, antisocial behavior, and poor peer relations. With these other behaviors, the diagnosis of depression is harder to make.
There are have been many correlations and reported causes of these depressive symptoms in children. One of them is negative life events and stressful environments. In a study conducted by Susan Nolen-Hoeksema (1992), she concluded that children's reports of negative life events early in the study predicted their levels of depression across the 5 years of the study. The more negative the situation, the more depressed the child was. Family related events can also lead to depressive symptoms, particularly major events such as divorce or death. The correlation was found to be so prevalent that one could say that early negative life events may set into motion other processes that maintain the child's penchant of depression. .
Stressful environments also may have an impact on depressive symptoms in children. Stressers such as a parental divorce, a death in the family, or anything that causes a significant change in the parenting style or abilities of the caregiver have a significant impact on the children (Yoko, 2002).