Comparative study of

Depression among Early

and Late Female
Adolescents

By Abindra Raj Dangol

Symbol No 370002
Overview
 Introduction
Background
Literature Review
Research Objective
Hypothesis
 Methodology
Participation and Procedures
Data Collection Tool
 Results
Result Table
 Conclusion
INTRODUCTION
Background
 Depression
Affects at least 10% of the population (21.3% female and
12.7% male).
Symptoms - feeling sad or empty, markedly diminished interest
or pleasure in activities, weight gain or loss, insomnia or hyper-
somnia, psychomotor agitation, fatigue, feelings of worthlessness,
diminished ability to think or concentrate, and recurrent thoughts of
death (American Psychological Association, 2000).
Causes - genetics (heredity), environment (family and social
environment), stressful life events (such as the death of a loved one,
a divorce).
 Female Adolescent
Early adolescent- 6.0%
Late adolescent- 5.2% (2004)
Literature Review
 Adolescent depression has been under diagnosed, leading to
serious difficulties in school, work and personal adjustment,
which also continue into adulthood (Brage, 1995).
 Poor peer relationships also are associated with adolescent
depression (Kistner, 2006). Not having a close relationship with a
best friend, having less contact with friends, and peer rejection
increase depressive tendencies in adolescents (Vernberg, 1990).
 Few research studies have examined the relationship between
adolescent depression and academic performance. Studies that
have examined this relationship have found adolescents with
higher depressive symptoms have lower grades (Field et al,
2001)
 Field and colleagues (2001) studied 79 high school seniors and
found that depressed adolescents reported spending less time
on homework and having lower grade point average compared to
non- depressed adolescents.
Research Objective
 To find the level of depression of early female adolescents
 To find the level of depression of late female adolescents
 To compare the depression among early and late female
adolescents

Hypothesis
 Early female adolescents are more likely to have depression
than late female adolescents
METHODOLOGY
Participation and Procedure
 Sampling- random
 Area- ward 12 Kathmandu
 Sample- 30 (15 early female adolescents and 15 late female
adolescent)
 Scale: BDI (Nepali version)

Data Collection Tool

 Created- Dr. Aaron T. Beck (English Version).
 Validation in Nepali-
 Consists- 21 items, Sadness, Pessimism, Past failure, Loss of
pleasure, Guilty feelings, Punishment feelings, Self dislike, Self
criticalness, Suicidal thoughts or wishes etc..
 Cut-off value- 16/17
RESULTS
Result table
Table 1: Means and Standard Deviations for Early and Late
Female Adolescents.
Stage Mean score Standard deviation
Early female adolescents 10.7 12.51
Late female adolescents 15.6 4.40

Mean score Early F. Adolescent

LateF. Adolescent
10.7

15.6
CONCLUSION
Conclusion
 The level of depression of early female adolescent is 10.7.
 The level of depression of late female adolescent is 15.6
 The S.D of early female adolescent is high i.e. 12.51, this shows
that the individual scores are highly deviated with the mean
score.
 The level of depression of early and late female adolescent are
10.7 and 15.6 which is less than cut-off value 16/17 therefore
early female adolescents have lower level of depression and late
female adolescents have average level of depression.
 Therefore the hypothesis is ignored.
 Future studies should involve larger, more representative
samples.
THANK YOU