Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry
ARTICLESPrevalence of Depression and Other Psychiatric Disorders Among Incarcerated Youths
Section snippets
METHOD
Participants (Table 1) came from the Harris County Juvenile Detention Center (HCJDC). Approximately 65% are released within 48 hours. HCJDC statistics indicate that youths who stay longer have the most serious offenses and stay longer to go to court. These latter youths were our subjects. Their mean duration of stay was 27.7 days. Forty-six percent were from families whose incomes were below federal poverty guidelines. Their offenses fell into three categories: violent offenses within the
Prevalence of Depression: BDI
The mean BDI score was 15 (SD 10.5). Using the cutoff score of 16 for moderate depression and 24 for severe depression, there was no statistically significant difference in the prevalence of moderate and severe depression or of severe depression alone between the sexes or among the different ethnic groups for each sex (Table 2).
Prevalence of Depression: PHQ
The prevalence of MDD in the sample was 100/1,024 (9.77%). The prevalence of MDD, depressive disorder NOS, and other depressive disorder by ethnicity for each sex is
Summary of Results and Comparison With Other Studies
This paper presents data from the largest published study of psychiatric disorders among incarcerated youths to date, and it is the first to give detailed information about the differences in prevalence between the sexes and among ethnic groups, in a sample population of the most serious offenders in Harris County. There were differences in the prevalence rates of mental disorders between males and females for some disorders but not for MDD measured by the PHQ or for moderate and severe
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