Adolescent girls. II. Background factors in anxiety and depressive states.

Background: This study investigated the prevalence and background variables associated with anxiety and depressive disorders occurring in a community population of older teenage girls.

Method: Girls aged 15-20 years (n = 529) whose names were drawn from general practitioner age/sex registers completed self-report Great Ormond Street Mood Questionnaires. From this sample, 143 girls (69 with high self-report scores and 74 controls) were intensively interviewed. Information was obtained on confiding/supportive relationships, family arguments and rows, quality of marital relationship, and degree of parental control. Psychiatric state was assessed by use of the Clinical Interview Schedule to provide a Total Weighted Score. A modified form of the Bedford Life Events and Difficulties Schedule was applied.

Results: The estimated one-year prevalence rate for psychiatric disorder was 18.9%, and 16.9% for depression and anxiety disorders. Using a logit analysis, it was shown that maternal distress (P < 0.02) and the quality of the mother's marriage (P < 0.02) were independently associated with the presence of depression and anxiety disorders.

Conclusions: About 17% of girls in a community sample living at home showed a depression or anxiety disorder. Even in late adolescence, the presence of a mood disorder is closely linked to the quality of family relationships within the home.