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7 Depression Research Paper Topic Ideas

Nancy Schimelpfening, MS is the administrator for the non-profit depression support group Depression Sanctuary. Nancy has a lifetime of experience with depression, experiencing firsthand how devastating this illness can be.

Cara Lustik is a fact-checker and copywriter.

In psychology classes, it's common for students to write a depression research paper. Researching depression may be beneficial if you have a personal interest in this topic and want to learn more, or if you're simply passionate about this mental health issue. However, since depression is a very complex subject, it offers many possible topics to focus on, which may leave you wondering where to begin.

If this is how you feel, here are a few research titles about depression to help inspire your topic choice. You can use these suggestions as actual research titles about depression, or you can use them to lead you to other more in-depth topics that you can look into further for your depression research paper.

What Is Depression?

Everyone experiences times when they feel a little bit blue or sad. This is a normal part of being human. Depression, however, is a medical condition that is quite different from everyday moodiness.

Your depression research paper may explore the basics, or it might delve deeper into the  definition of clinical depression  or the  difference between clinical depression and sadness .

What Research Says About the Psychology of Depression

Studies suggest that there are biological, psychological, and social aspects to depression, giving you many different areas to consider for your research title about depression.

Types of Depression

There are several different types of depression  that are dependent on how an individual's depression symptoms manifest themselves. Depression symptoms may vary in severity or in what is causing them. For instance, major depressive disorder (MDD) may have no identifiable cause, while postpartum depression is typically linked to pregnancy and childbirth.

Depressive symptoms may also be part of an illness called bipolar disorder. This includes fluctuations between depressive episodes and a state of extreme elation called mania. Bipolar disorder is a topic that offers many research opportunities, from its definition and its causes to associated risks, symptoms, and treatment.

Causes of Depression

The possible causes of depression are many and not yet well understood. However, it most likely results from an interplay of genetic vulnerability  and environmental factors. Your depression research paper could explore one or more of these causes and reference the latest research on the topic.

For instance, how does an imbalance in brain chemistry or poor nutrition relate to depression? Is there a relationship between the stressful, busier lives of today's society and the rise of depression? How can grief or a major medical condition lead to overwhelming sadness and depression?

Who Is at Risk for Depression?

This is a good research question about depression as certain risk factors may make a person more prone to developing this mental health condition, such as a family history of depression, adverse childhood experiences, stress , illness, and gender . This is not a complete list of all risk factors, however, it's a good place to start.

The growing rate of depression in children, teenagers, and young adults is an interesting subtopic you can focus on as well. Whether you dive into the reasons behind the increase in rates of depression or discuss the treatment options that are safe for young people, there is a lot of research available in this area and many unanswered questions to consider.

Depression Signs and Symptoms

The signs of depression are those outward manifestations of the illness that a doctor can observe when they examine a patient. For example, a lack of emotional responsiveness is a visible sign. On the other hand, symptoms are subjective things about the illness that only the patient can observe, such as feelings of guilt or sadness.

An illness such as depression is often invisible to the outside observer. That is why it is very important for patients to make an accurate accounting of all of their symptoms so their doctor can diagnose them properly. In your depression research paper, you may explore these "invisible" symptoms of depression in adults or explore how depression symptoms can be different in children .

How Is Depression Diagnosed?

This is another good depression research topic because, in some ways, the diagnosis of depression is more of an art than a science. Doctors must generally rely upon the patient's set of symptoms and what they can observe about them during their examination to make a diagnosis. 

While there are certain  laboratory tests that can be performed to rule out other medical illnesses as a cause of depression, there is not yet a definitive test for depression itself.

If you'd like to pursue this topic, you may want to start with the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). The fifth edition, known as DSM-5, offers a very detailed explanation that guides doctors to a diagnosis. You can also compare the current model of diagnosing depression to historical methods of diagnosis—how have these updates improved the way depression is treated?

Treatment Options for Depression

The first choice for depression treatment is generally an antidepressant medication. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are the most popular choice because they can be quite effective and tend to have fewer side effects than other types of antidepressants.

Psychotherapy, or talk therapy, is another effective and common choice. It is especially efficacious when combined with antidepressant therapy. Certain other treatments, such as electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) or vagus nerve stimulation (VNS), are most commonly used for patients who do not respond to more common forms of treatment.

Focusing on one of these treatments is an option for your depression research paper. Comparing and contrasting several different types of treatment can also make a good research title about depression.

A Word From Verywell

The topic of depression really can take you down many different roads. When making your final decision on which to pursue in your depression research paper, it's often helpful to start by listing a few areas that pique your interest.

From there, consider doing a little preliminary research. You may come across something that grabs your attention like a new study, a controversial topic you didn't know about, or something that hits a personal note. This will help you narrow your focus, giving you your final research title about depression.

Remes O, Mendes JF, Templeton P. Biological, psychological, and social determinants of depression: A review of recent literature . Brain Sci . 2021;11(12):1633. doi:10.3390/brainsci11121633

National Institute of Mental Health. Depression .

American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition . American Psychiatric Association.

National Institute of Mental Health. Mental health medications .

Ferri, F. F. (2019). Ferri's Clinical Advisor 2020 E-Book: 5 Books in 1 . Netherlands: Elsevier Health Sciences.

By Nancy Schimelpfening Nancy Schimelpfening, MS is the administrator for the non-profit depression support group Depression Sanctuary. Nancy has a lifetime of experience with depression, experiencing firsthand how devastating this illness can be.  

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April 23, 2024

Research in Context: Treating depression

Finding better approaches.

While effective treatments for major depression are available, there is still room for improvement. This special Research in Context feature explores the development of more effective ways to treat depression, including personalized treatment approaches and both old and new drugs.

Everyone has a bad day sometimes. People experience various types of stress in the course of everyday life. These stressors can cause sadness, anxiety, hopelessness, frustration, or guilt. You may not enjoy the activities you usually do. These feelings tend to be only temporary. Once circumstances change, and the source of stress goes away, your mood usually improves. But sometimes, these feelings don’t go away. When these feelings stick around for at least two weeks and interfere with your daily activities, it’s called major depression, or clinical depression.

In 2021, 8.3% of U.S. adults experienced major depression. That’s about 21 million people. Among adolescents, the prevalence was much greater—more than 20%. Major depression can bring decreased energy, difficulty thinking straight, sleep problems, loss of appetite, and even physical pain. People with major depression may become unable to meet their responsibilities at work or home. Depression can also lead people to use alcohol or drugs or engage in high-risk activities. In the most extreme cases, depression can drive people to self-harm or even suicide.

The good news is that effective treatments are available. But current treatments have limitations. That’s why NIH-funded researchers have been working to develop more effective ways to treat depression. These include finding ways to predict whether certain treatments will help a given patient. They're also trying to develop more effective drugs or, in some cases, find new uses for existing drugs.

Finding the right treatments

The most common treatments for depression include psychotherapy, medications, or a combination. Mild depression may be treated with psychotherapy. Moderate to severe depression often requires the addition of medication.

Several types of psychotherapy have been shown to help relieve depression symptoms. For example, cognitive behavioral therapy helps people to recognize harmful ways of thinking and teaches them how to change these. Some researchers are working to develop new therapies to enhance people’s positive emotions. But good psychotherapy can be hard to access due to the cost, scheduling difficulties, or lack of available providers. The recent growth of telehealth services for mental health has improved access in some cases.

There are many antidepressant drugs on the market. Different drugs will work best on different patients. But it can be challenging to predict which drugs will work for a given patient. And it can take anywhere from 6 to 12 weeks to know whether a drug is working. Finding an effective drug can involve a long period of trial and error, with no guarantee of results.

If depression doesn’t improve with psychotherapy or medications, brain stimulation therapies could be used. Electroconvulsive therapy, or ECT, uses electrodes to send electric current into the brain. A newer technique, transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), stimulates the brain using magnetic fields. These treatments must be administered by specially trained health professionals.

“A lot of patients, they kind of muddle along, treatment after treatment, with little idea whether something’s going to work,” says psychiatric researcher Dr. Amit Etkin.

One reason it’s difficult to know which antidepressant medications will work is that there are likely different biological mechanisms that can cause depression. Two people with similar symptoms may both be diagnosed with depression, but the causes of their symptoms could be different. As NIH depression researcher Dr. Carlos Zarate explains, “we believe that there’s not one depression, but hundreds of depressions.”

Depression may be due to many factors. Genetics can put certain people at risk for depression. Stressful situations, physical health conditions, and medications may contribute. And depression can also be part of a more complicated mental disorder, such as bipolar disorder. All of these can affect which treatment would be best to use.

Etkin has been developing methods to distinguish patients with different types of depression based on measurable biological features, or biomarkers. The idea is that different types of patients would respond differently to various treatments. Etkin calls this approach “precision psychiatry.”

One such type of biomarker is electrical activity in the brain. A technique called electroencephalography, or EEG, measures electrical activity using electrodes placed on the scalp. When Etkin was at Stanford University, he led a research team that developed a machine-learning algorithm to predict treatment response based on EEG signals. The team applied the algorithm to data from a clinical trial of the antidepressant sertraline (Zoloft) involving more than 300 people.

EEG data for the participants were collected at the outset. Participants were then randomly assigned to take either sertraline or an inactive placebo for eight weeks. The team found a specific set of signals that predicted the participants’ responses to sertraline. The same neural “signature” also predicted which patients with depression responded to medication in a separate group.

Etkin’s team also examined this neural signature in a set of patients who were treated with TMS and psychotherapy. People who were predicted to respond less to sertraline had a greater response to the TMS/psychotherapy combination.

Etkin continues to develop methods for personalized depression treatment through his company, Alto Neuroscience. He notes that EEG has the advantage of being low-cost and accessible; data can even be collected in a patient’s home. That’s important for being able to get personalized treatments to the large number of people they could help. He’s also working on developing antidepressant drugs targeted to specific EEG profiles. Candidate drugs are in clinical trials now.

“It’s not like a pie-in-the-sky future thing, 20-30 years from now,” Etkin explains. “This is something that could be in people's hands within the next five years.”

New tricks for old drugs

While some researchers focus on matching patients with their optimal treatments, others aim to find treatments that can work for many different patients. It turns out that some drugs we’ve known about for decades might be very effective antidepressants, but we didn’t recognize their antidepressant properties until recently.

One such drug is ketamine. Ketamine has been used as an anesthetic for more than 50 years. Around the turn of this century, researchers started to discover its potential as an antidepressant. Zarate and others have found that, unlike traditional antidepressants that can take weeks to take effect, ketamine can improve depression in as little as one day. And a single dose can have an effect for a week or more. In 2019, the FDA approved a form of ketamine for treating depression that is resistant to other treatments.

But ketamine has drawbacks of its own. It’s a dissociative drug, meaning that it can make people feel disconnected from their body and environment. It also has the potential for addiction and misuse. For these reasons, it’s a controlled substance and can only be administered in a doctor’s office or clinic.

Another class of drugs being studied as possible antidepressants are psychedelics. These include lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms. These drugs can temporarily alter a person’s mood, thoughts, and perceptions of reality. Some have historically been used for religious rituals, but they are also used recreationally.

In clinical studies, psychedelics are typically administered in combination with psychotherapy. This includes several preparatory sessions with a therapist in the weeks before getting the drug, and several sessions in the weeks following to help people process their experiences. The drugs are administered in a controlled setting.

Dr. Stephen Ross, co-director of the New York University Langone Health Center for Psychedelic Medicine, describes a typical session: “It takes place in a living room-like setting. The person is prepared, and they state their intention. They take the drug, they lie supine, they put on eye shades and preselected music, and two therapists monitor them.” Sessions last for as long as the acute effects of the drug last, which is typically several hours. This is a healthcare-intensive intervention given the time and personnel needed.

In 2016, Ross led a clinical trial examining whether psilocybin-assisted therapy could reduce depression and anxiety in people with cancer. According to Ross, as many as 40% of people with cancer have clinically significant anxiety and depression. The study showed that a single psilocybin session led to substantial reductions in anxiety and depression compared with a placebo. These reductions were evident as soon as one day after psilocybin administration. Six months later, 60-80% of participants still had reduced depression and anxiety.

Psychedelic drugs frequently trigger mystical experiences in the people who take them. “People can feel a sense…that their consciousness is part of a greater consciousness or that all energy is one,” Ross explains. “People can have an experience that for them feels more ‘real’ than regular reality. They can feel transported to a different dimension of reality.”

About three out of four participants in Ross’s study said it was among the most meaningful experiences of their lives. And the degree of mystical experience correlated with the drug’s therapeutic effect. A long-term follow-up study found that the effects of the treatment continued more than four years later.

If these results seem too good to be true, Ross is quick to point out that it was a small study, with only 29 participants, although similar studies from other groups have yielded similar results. Psychedelics haven’t yet been shown to be effective in a large, controlled clinical trial. Ross is now conducting a trial with 200 people to see if the results of his earlier study pan out in this larger group. For now, though, psychedelics remain experimental drugs—approved for testing, but not for routine medical use.

Unlike ketamine, psychedelics aren’t considered addictive. But they, too, carry risks, which certain conditions may increase. Psychedelics can cause cardiovascular complications. They can cause psychosis in people who are predisposed to it. In uncontrolled settings, they have the risk of causing anxiety, confusion, and paranoia—a so-called “bad trip”—that can lead the person taking the drug to harm themself or others. This is why psychedelic-assisted therapy takes place in such tightly controlled settings. That increases the cost and complexity of the therapy, which may prevent many people from having access to it.

Better, safer drugs

Despite the promise of ketamine or psychedelics, their drawbacks have led some researchers to look for drugs that work like them but with fewer side effects.

Depression is thought to be caused by the loss of connections between nerve cells, or neurons, in certain regions of the brain. Ketamine and psychedelics both promote the brain’s ability to repair these connections, a quality called plasticity. If we could understand how these drugs encourage plasticity, we might be able to design drugs that can do so without the side effects.

Dr. David Olson at the University of California, Davis studies how psychedelics work at the cellular and molecular levels. The drugs appear to promote plasticity by binding to a receptor in cells called the 5-hydroxytryptamine 2A receptor (5-HT2AR). But many other compounds also bind 5-HT2AR without promoting plasticity. In a recent NIH-funded study, Olson showed that 5-HT2AR can be found both inside and on the surface of the cell. Only compounds that bound to the receptor inside the cells promoted plasticity. This suggests that a drug has to be able to get into the cell to promote plasticity.

Moreover, not all drugs that bind 5-HT2AR have psychedelic effects. Olson’s team has developed a molecular sensor, called psychLight, that can identify which compounds that bind 5-HT2AR have psychedelic effects. Using psychLight, they identified compounds that are not psychedelic but still have rapid and long-lasting antidepressant effects in animal models. He’s founded a company, Delix Therapeutics, to further develop drugs that promote plasticity.

Meanwhile, Zarate and his colleagues have been investigating a compound related to ketamine called hydroxynorketamine (HNK). Ketamine is converted to HNK in the body, and this process appears to be required for ketamine’s antidepressant effects. Administering HNK directly produced antidepressant-like effects in mice. At the same time, it did not cause the dissociative side effects and addiction caused by ketamine. Zarate’s team has already completed phase I trials of HNK in people showing that it’s safe. Phase II trials to find out whether it’s effective are scheduled to begin soon.  

“What [ketamine and psychedelics] are doing for the field is they’re helping us realize that it is possible to move toward a repair model versus a symptom mitigation model,” Olson says. Unlike existing antidepressants, which just relieve the symptoms of depression, these drugs appear to fix the underlying causes. That’s likely why they work faster and produce longer-lasting effects. This research is bringing us closer to having safer antidepressants that only need to be taken once in a while, instead of every day.

—by Brian Doctrow, Ph.D.

Related Links

• How Psychedelic Drugs May Help with Depression
• Biosensor Advances Drug Discovery
• Neural Signature Predicts Antidepressant Response
• How Ketamine Relieves Symptoms of Depression
• Protein Structure Reveals How LSD Affects the Brain
• Predicting The Usefulness of Antidepressants
• Depression Screening and Treatment in Adults
• Serotonin Transporter Structure Revealed
• Placebo Effect in Depression Treatment
• When Sadness Lingers: Understanding and Treating Depression
• Psychedelic and Dissociative Drugs

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• Perspective
• Published: 14 April 2022

Revisiting the theoretical and methodological foundations of depression measurement

• Eiko I. Fried   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-7469-594X 1 ,
• Jessica K. Flake 2 &
• Donald J. Robinaugh 3 , 4  

Nature Reviews Psychology volume  1 ,  pages 358–368 ( 2022 ) Cite this article

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Depressive disorders are among the leading causes of global disease burden, but there has been limited progress in understanding the causes of and treatments for these disorders. In this Perspective, we suggest that such progress depends crucially on our ability to measure depression. We review the many problems with depression measurement, including the limited evidence of validity and reliability. These issues raise grave concerns about common uses of depression measures, such as for diagnosis or tracking treatment progress. We argue that shortcomings arise because the measurement of depression rests on shaky methodological and theoretical foundations. Moving forward, we need to break with the field’s tradition, which has, for decades, divorced theories about depression from how we measure it. Instead, we suggest that epistemic iteration, an iterative exchange between theory and measurement, provides a crucial avenue for progressing how we measure depression.

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The authors thank M.G. Wolf, N. Butcher and Z. Cohen for comments on earlier versions of this manuscript. E.I.F. is supported by funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant no. 949059). D.J.R. was supported by funding from the National Institute for Mental Health (K23 MH113805). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the views of any funding agency.

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Fried, E.I., Flake, J.K. & Robinaugh, D.J. Revisiting the theoretical and methodological foundations of depression measurement. Nat Rev Psychol 1 , 358–368 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44159-022-00050-2

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A Literature Review of Studies of Depression and Treatment Outcomes Among U.S. College Students Since 1990

• Elissa J. Miller M.D., M.P.H.
• Henry Chung M.D.

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According to the fall 2007 American College Health Association-National College Health Assessment ( 1 ), a national survey of approximately 20,500 college students on 39 campuses, 43.2% of the students reported "feeling so depressed it was difficult to function" at least once in the past 12 months. More than 3,200 university students reported being diagnosed as having depression, with 39.2% of those students diagnosed in the past 12 months, 24.2% currently in therapy for depression, and 35.8% taking antidepressant medication. Among the students surveyed, 10.3% admitted "seriously considering attempting suicide" within the past 12 months and 1.9% actually attempted suicide during that period.

Although the above data may seem surprising to some, it is not to most mental health clinicians and administrators at U.S. colleges. According to the 2008 National Survey of Counseling Center Directors, 95% of respondents believe that there has been a trend in recent years of an increase in the number of students with serious psychological problems. In 2008 an estimated 26% of counseling center clients were taking psychiatric medication, up from 20% in 2003, 17% in 2000, and 9% in 1994 ( 2 ). And although the rate of suicide among college students may have decreased in recent decades ( 3 ), suicide remains the third leading cause of death among adolescents and young adults ( 4 ).

Many college administrators have begun to appreciate the effect that a student's depression can have on overall functioning in the college community. Depression has been linked to academic difficulties as well as interpersonal problems at school, with more severe depression correlated with higher levels of impairment ( 5 ). The treatment of depression among college students has been associated with a protective effect on these students' grade point averages ( 6 ). In an effort to diagnose and treat early and effectively, and thus decrease the excess morbidity and risk of suicide associated with depression, some U.S. colleges have even begun to screen students for depression in the primary care setting ( 7 ).

There are unique challenges of providing treatment to college students. These challenges include significant academic pressure in semester-based cycles, extensive semester breaks that result in discontinuities of care, and heavy reliance on community supports that can be inconsistent. Given the prevalence and impact of depression on college campuses and the varying services offered by university mental health centers throughout the United States, there is a significant need to evaluate successful models of treatment and their related outcomes.

The databases PsycINFO, MEDLINE, and CINAHL were searched for studies related to depression among U.S. college students and treatment outcome by using the following terms: "depression," "college or university or graduate or junior college or community college students," "colleges," "community colleges," "treatment and prevention," "empirical study," and "peer reviewed journal." Initially, no limitation was placed on years included in the search. Eighteen relevant publications were read and analyzed closely for method and content, with particular focus on location and inclusion criteria of study participants. Studies were eliminated if participants were students at colleges outside of the United States, if the studies did not have specific depression criteria for inclusion, or if the students included were at risk of depression but did not meet criteria for having depression. Nine remaining articles were reviewed further, and it was decided that the five studies published before 1990 had decreased relevance and would be excluded from this review in light of the growing availability of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor medications since 1990, which substantially changed the treatment of depression among college students. In addition, the demographic characteristics of U.S. college students may have changed since the early 1990s, with many college counseling center directors noting a trend in recent years of an increase in students with serious psychological problems ( 2 ). Only four articles ( 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 ) remained for this review of depression and treatment outcomes of U.S. college students.

In 2007 Kelly and colleagues ( 8 ) conducted a nonexperimental study that recruited from introductory psychology classes university students with depression who were not currently in treatment, offering both financial compensation and class credit for research involvement. Sixty college students (66% Caucasian, 57% female) with major depression were followed for nine weeks without any treatment to assess for sudden gains (that is, precipitous improvements in depressive symptomatology), remission of depressive symptoms, and reversal of improvements. The authors found that 60% of the college students with major depression experienced sudden gains over the nine weeks of not receiving treatment. However, before the end of the nine-week observation period, more than half of these sudden gains reversed. At the end of the period of not receiving treatment, depression was in remission for 20% of the students. The authors concluded that sudden gains may be part of the natural course of depression for some college students, irrespective of treatment, and that self-evaluation processes may play an important role in recovery.

In 2000 Lara and colleagues ( 9 ) conducted a nonexperimental study in which undergraduate students taking psychology classes who had a recent-onset major depressive episode were paid or received course credit for their research participation. Eighty-four students (51% Caucasian, 86% female) were followed for 26 weeks to assess whether various psychosocial factors predicted the short-term course of major depression. The authors found that within the 26-week period of no treatment, 68% of the college students who were initially depressed recovered. Among those who recovered, 21% relapsed by the end of the 26-week period into another major depressive episode. Lara and colleagues concluded that college students with depression may sometimes spontaneously recover and relapse and that harsh discipline in childhood was significantly associated with higher mean levels of depression at follow-up and relapse but not with recovery.

In 2006 Geisner and colleagues ( 10 ) conducted a four-week randomized controlled trial of depression treatment and recruited undergraduates with depression who were enrolled in psychology courses to participate for course credit. The study enrolled 177 students with depression (49% Caucasian and 48% Asian, 70% female) who were randomly assigned either to an intervention group that received personalized mailed feedback or to a control group. The authors found that depressive symptoms improved for both the intervention and control groups, but in the intervention condition there was a significantly greater improvement of depressive symptoms, as measured by the DSM-IV-Based Depression Scale. There was no significant difference between the intervention and control groups on symptoms measured by the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). Geisner and colleagues concluded that an intervention using personalized mailed feedback may be useful for reducing depressive symptoms among college students.

In 1993 Pace and Dixon ( 11 ) conducted a four- to seven-week randomized controlled trial to assess the treatment effectiveness of individual cognitive therapy for college students with depressive symptoms. Participating undergraduate students earned course credit for their research involvement. Seventy-four students (100% Caucasian, 81% female) who met strict criteria for study inclusion were randomly assigned to either a group that received individual cognitive therapy or a control condition where participants did not receive treatment and were put on a waiting list for cognitive therapy. Pace and Dixon found that 74% of participants in the cognitive therapy group (versus 33% in control group) were classified as nondepressed with BDI scores of less than 10 after four to seven weeks of treatment. At the one-month follow-up, 81% of participants in the cognitive therapy group (versus 64% of control group) were classified as nondepressed. Outcomes at both time points were statistically significant in favor of cognitive therapy. The authors concluded that brief individual cognitive therapy may effectively reduce mild to moderate depressive symptoms as well as depressive self-schemata among college students.

The current body of literature on depression and treatment outcomes among U.S. college students is sparse, and for the four studies we found, varying inclusion and exclusion criteria, assessment methods, and lengths of treatment make the interpretation of results difficult. Whereas Kelly and colleagues ( 8 ) and Lara and colleagues ( 9 ) used the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV to diagnose participants with major depressive disorder, Geisner and colleagues ( 10 ) and Pace and Dixon ( 11 ) used self-report scales to measure depressive symptoms for study inclusion and Pace and Dixon excluded students with severe levels of depressive symptoms. All four studies recruited students who were not seeking treatment and who were offered course credit for participating, a reward that might have influenced the degree of improvement in outcomes. There was no consistent standard used across studies to define a student with depression, even when using the same assessment tool. In terms of length of treatment, only two of the four reviewed studies followed students for more than nine weeks. The length of time over which students are assessed is especially critical for the college population, where time is defined by a semester calendar, moods are often influenced by exam schedules, and treatments are adjusted to accommodate upcoming vacations ( 12 ). Today's college mental health services tend to employ short-term models of care (eight to 16 sessions), with referral to outside clinicians if longer-term treatment is necessary ( 13 ). Given these dynamics, future research in college mental health will need to establish quality standards for ongoing monitoring and follow-up of students' treatment outcomes.

Unfortunately, the results from these four studies may not be fully applicable to college students today or in the future, particularly in light of the changing demographic characteristics of those attending universities as well as the rapidly evolving role of pharmacology in the treatment of depression. Only two of the four studies reviewed offered any active treatment for depression, and none of the studies included any form of pharmacological treatment. Consistent with current medical literature and best practices, many treatment-seeking college students diagnosed as having depression currently receive psychotherapy and psychopharmacological treatment ( 1 ). Because major depression can be a chronic recurring condition, future research needs to evaluate the effectiveness of the various treatment modalities used to treat college students with depression. This is particularly important in light of the recent addition of a black-box warning for the use of antidepressant medications among young adults aged 18 to 24 years, which recommends the close monitoring of patients taking antidepressant medication for clinical worsening, suicidality, or unusual changes in behavior.

Conclusions

In light of the high prevalence of depression among college students today and the risks and sequelae this illness poses if not diagnosed and treated early and effectively, it is imperative that research funding be increased for both naturalistic and intervention studies of depression and treatment outcomes in the college health setting. First, research documenting depression and treatment outcomes in this cohort should be identified in order to evaluate the adequacy of current care. Second, research should be directed to assessing specific short-term or semester-based interventions for students with depression. Models that explore the effectiveness of integration with primary care, care management, medication, and short-term psychotherapy are all important targets for future study. By conducting such research, effective treatment models and benchmarks of treatment outcome in the college population can be developed and integrated into college mental health practice.

Acknowledgments and disclosures

The authors thank Michael Klein, Ph.D., for his assistance in the development of this brief report.

Dr. Chung has served on advisory boards for Takeda Pharmaceuticals and Lundbeck Pharmaceuticals and has served as a speaker for Pfizer and Jazz Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Miller reports no competing interests.

At the time of this report, Dr. Miller was a Public Psychiatry Fellow at New York State Psychiatric Institute and Columbia University, New York City. Dr. Chung is associate vice-president of student health at New York University Student Heath Center, New York City. Send correspondence to Dr. Miller at the New York State Psychiatric Institute, Columbia University, 1051 Riverside Dr., Box 111, New York, NY 10032 (e-mail: [email protected] ).

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6. Hysenbegasi A, Hass S, Rowland C: The impact of depression on the academic productivity of university students. Journal of Mental Health Policy and Economics 8:145–151, 2005 Google Scholar

7. Chung H, Klein M: Improving identification and treatment of depression in college health. Student Health Spectrum, June 2007, pp 13–19 Google Scholar

8. Kelly M, Roberts J, Bottonari K: Non-treatment related sudden gains in depression: the role of self-evaluation. Behaviour Research and Therapy 45:737–747, 2007 Google Scholar

9. Lara ME, Klein DN, Kasch KL: Psychosocial predictors of the short-term course and outcome of major depression: a longitudinal study of a nonclinical sample with recent-onset episodes. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 109:644–650, 2000 Google Scholar

10. Geisner I, Neighbors C, Larimer M: A randomized clinical trial of a brief, mailed intervention for symptoms of depression. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 74:393–399, 2006 Google Scholar

11. Pace T, Dixon D: Changes in depressive self-schemata and depressive symptoms following cognitive therapy. Journal of Counseling Psychology 40:288–294, 1993 Google Scholar

12. Lee C: Evidenced-based treatment of depression in the college population. Journal of College Student Psychotherapy 20:23–31, 2005 Google Scholar

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Clinical Trials

Teen depression.

Displaying 12 studies

The purpose of this study is to gather information regarding the use of rTMS as a treatment for depression in adolescents with Major Depressive Disorder. The investigators also hope to learn if measures of brain activity (cortical excitability and inhibition) collected with transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) can be used to identify which patients will benefit from certain types of rTMS treatment. 

This research proposal aims to better understand the neurobiology of depression in adolescents and how repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) may therapeutically impact brain function and mood. This investigation also proposes the first study to examine the efficacy of rTMS maintenance therapy in adolescents who have met clinical criteria following acute rTMS treatment. The magnetic resonance (MR) spectroscopy pattern of rTMS response will be analyzed according to previously established protocols.

The overall goal of this investigator-initiated trial is to evaluate the impact of platform algorithm products designed to rapidly identify pharmacokinetic (PK) and/or pharmacodynamic (PD) genomic variation on treatment outcome of depression in adolescents. This new technology may have the potential to optimize treatment selection by improving response, minimizing unfavorable adverse events / side effects and increasing treatment adherence

This research study aims to test the safety and effectiveness of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) on teens with depression. The study also seeks to understand how rTMS treatment affects the neurobiology of teens with depression.

The purpose of this study is to learn if measures of brain chemicals from a brain scan called Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Spectroscopy (MRI/MRS) and brain activity (known as cortical excitability and inhibition) collected by Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) are different in adolescents with depression who are in different stages of treatment. Researchers are conducting this study to learn more about how the brain works in adolescents with depression and without depression (healthy controls). This is important because it may identify a biological marker (a measure of how bad an illness is) for depression that could one day be used ...

The purpose of this study is to contribute to our understanding of the relationships between social media use in adolescents and psychological development, psychiatric comorbidity, and physiological markers of stress. 

The proposed study seeks to obtain preliminary signal of the tolerability and efficacy of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) for depressive symptoms in a sample of adolescents with depression and epilepsy. Additionally, effects of tDCS will be assessed via electroencephalographic, cognitive, and psychosocial measures.

In an effort to understand the effects of evidence-based interventions on children and adolescents, the aims of this study are to 1) evaluate the feasibility of utilizing wearable devices to track health information (i.e., sleep, physical activity); 2) evaluate the effectiveness of evidence-based intervention components on emotional and interpersonal functioning, family engagement, and sleep and physical activity level outcomes.

The purpose of this study is to:

• Increase screening of adolescents for symptoms of depression in primary care La Crosse, WI clinics using the PHQ9M screening tool.Screening to occur at all well child visits and all subsequent visits for adolescents with Depression on their problem list.Clinics to include Pediatrics, Family Medicine, Family Health, Center for Womens Health.
• Develop a clear care pathway for adolescents identified with clinically meaningful symptoms of depression through increased screening, referral and treatment options.  Pathway may include psychoeducational materials (multimedia options), intake paperwork and process for Department of Behavioral Health locally, and ...

The purpose of this study is to study brain chemistry in depressed patients compared to healthy patients who are not depressed.

The proposed study will examine sequential bilateral accelerated theta burst stimulation (aTBS). Three sessions are administered daily for 10 days (5 days per week). During each session continuous theta burst stimulation (cTBS) in which 1800 pulses are delivered continuously over 120 seconds to the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (RDPFC) is administered first, followed by iTBS in which 1800 pulses are delivered in 2 second bursts, repeated every 10 seconds for 570 seconds (1800 pulses) to the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (LDPFC). The theta burst stimulation (TBS) parameters were adopted from prior work, with 3-pulse 50 Hz bursts given ...

The purpose of this study is to see if there is a connection between bad experiences in the patient's childhood, either by the patient or the parent, and poor blood sugar control, obesity, poor blood lipid levels, and depression in patients with type 1 diabetes.

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Free Research Proposal About Depression

Type of paper: Research Proposal

Topic: Depression , Psychology , Health , People , Disorders , Medicine , Life , Emotions

Words: 2750

Published: 2021/02/16

Depression is an articulated and complex mental state characterized by melancholic state of mind. The prevalence of this mental state is often disregarded since the life cycle is characterized by the ups and downs. However, the prevalence of the low moments for a long period of time and with repetitive recurrences, combined with the other symptoms, it requires high regard and immediate treatment. The overbearing of the negative emotions leads to suicidal attempts to people who experience depression. The modern lifestyle and technological age today further add to the depressing environment to people who do not find their self-fulfillment. Depression is characterized by symptoms that need to be identified. It is imperative that depression must be addressed immediately. Current statistics show that there is an increasing trend in the prevalence of depression in societies today. The causations of the disorder are varied, and their impacts to the society are important. Furthermore, the treatment of the disorder is different from other diseases, where some responds to specific treatment while others require combinations of treatment. Until now, the studies and research about this mental state is subject for advancement. Depression

Introduction:

Depression is a common word nowadays that is associated automatically to the emotional condition of the individual at certain periods of time. It is accounted as part of the normal cycle of life where the ups and downs cause extreme emotions from time to time. However, when the feelings of despair, sadness, emptiness, and low moment have been felt by an individual for quite some time, it is no longer part of the normal pattern of life. Depression is a state where man experience many emotional, behavioral, cognitive, and physical symptoms. It is not just a temporary change in the mood or even signs of weakness. It is not also a character flaw as some consider it. Depression is a real and serious health problem that should be identified and treated (CANMAT, nd). People experiencing depression must be able to identify their conditions and be aware of the symptoms to provide treatment as early as possible to prevent it from getting worse. Depression is actually a prevalent mental disorder and one of the leading debilitating psychiatric disorders that may lead to suicide (Hollon et al, 2002). Suicide is the conscious and voluntary act of taking oneself’s life. It is the act of self-annihilation, and the widespread unease condition of an individual in need, where the challenges he is facing is overwhelming, and that the solution he considers is to make an end of the sorrow that is unbearable for him (Shneidman, 1985). Suicide is one of the most possible complications of depression especially when combined with other behavioral symptoms of moderate to the severe type of depression. People who are depressed usually do not have enough energy to harm themselves. However, when depression strikes, they gain increase energy that would drive them to attempt suicide (All About Depression, 2015). In today’s modern age, the human nature thriving only with the basic needs have been overshadowed by the modern day demanding lifestyle. There is a higher tendency for man to compromise his mental health due to the varied forms and over dominion of technological advances and societal changes (Evans, 2012). Major forms of depression have been the cause of disability among developed nations and the US. This paper covers the topic of depression as a mental illness. It covers the ways of its identification through the symptoms, it various causations, types, effects, and treatments. It provides an overview about the general concept of depression. Specifically, it strives to direct the concepts of depression in relation with today’s modern lifestyle and high technological world. Depression makes life more difficult. It is vital to understand the symptoms and signs for the first step in addressing the problem.

What is Depression?

Mental Illness is defined as the collective term that refers to all the diagnosable mental disorders. This health condition are remarked highly with alterations in the mood, thinking, behavior, and any combination thereof, that are associated with distress and impaired functioning. Depression is one of the mental disorders that is characterized by mood alterations. Anxiety and depression are the main contributors to the high and increasing rates of suicide (USDOHHS, 1999). It is an articulated and complex mental state characterized by melancholic state of mind. There is an overload of negative sensations that makes an individual to decrease an interest in his surroundings (Stranieri et al, 2012). Depressions is a common and one of the most debilitating psychiatric disorders, where people having this disorder experience multiple episodes, ranging from acute and chronic forms. It refers to the negative emotions or low mood and the absence of the positive motions, e.g loss of pleasure and interest in activities. It is also often accompanied with emotional, physical, cognitive, and behavioral symptoms (Knott, 2014).

Depression is a mental condition that affects around 1 out of 10 Americans, where the prevalence per state varies. There are around 350 million people suffer from depression around the world, making it as the leading cause of the disabilities among men (WHO, 2015). WHO estimated that there is a higher prevalence of depression among the elderly with rates of 10% to 20% depending on the cultural situations of people (Barua et al, 2011). There is greater prevalence of depression for people in the parts of the Middle East and Asia as compared to the people in the Western countries. There are around 9% of people that experience depression in regions such as India, Afghanistan, Middle East, and Asia, while there is only around 4% prevalence of depression in countries such as Australia, New Zealand, North and South America (Goetzke, 2014). Depression among ethnicities also has higher percentage over the others. Depression is prevalent in the people ages of 45 to 64. In the worldwide context, there are around 5.7% men and around 9.5% women that experience depression in a total of around 121 million people. WHO forecasts that depression will become a leading contributor to the worldwide burden of disease by the coming 2020 (Halliwell, 2007).

Symptoms of Depression

Depression occurs in multiple episodes. Some of the symptoms include (Mayo Clinic, 2015): Low emotions such as sadness, unhappiness, and emptiness Angry outbursts, frustrations, and irritability over small matters Loss of pleasure and interest in the activities done normally Disturbance in sleeping patterns leading to insomnia of over sleeping Lack of energy even in small tasks Loss of appetite or increased carvings for food Restlessness, anxiety, excessive worrying, and inability to be still Slowed body movements, speaking, and thinking Negative feelings of guilt, worthlessness, blame Trouble in making decisions, thinking, and concentrating Frequent thoughts of death, suicide thoughts and attempts Association of unexplained physical complains Types of Depression The symptoms of depression are commonly constant ranging from acute to moderate upto severe cases. When this disorder is not treated, it would lead to major depression cases. Some people experience single episodes through time, but would lead to major sickness when it recurs. Some of the common types include Dysthymia and Bipolar Disorder. Dysthymia is a mild or low-grade depression. Patients experience mild and moderate depression with intervals of normal mood periods. The symptoms for this depression are subtle and not as strong as the major forms of depression, but they often last for quite a long period of time. This disease makes one to live life to the fullest and even to remember memorable thoughts. Generally, this disorder can be treated easily. The other type of depression is the major type of depression called bipolar disorder. It is remarkably characterized by the sudden shifts of mood. There are alternate episodes of manic and depression. The switching from one extreme mood to another is gradual, where the episodes last for several weeks. When the patient is depressed, the symptoms for depression are experienced. The treatment for this disorder is also different with the mild case (Smith et al, 2015)

Causations of Depression

Depression is caused by combinations of various factors that include the biological, psychological, and environmental factors. Depression has been associated with disorders of the brain. There were many longstanding theories about depression, where suggestions of neurotransmitters that communicate with the brain cells are going out of balance due to depression. However, this theory is difficult to prove. The various technologies of the brain imaging such as the MRI show that the brains of the people experiencing depression have different appearance with those who does not suffer depression. Accordingly, the brain parts that include the sleeping, thinking, mood, behavior, and appetite appear different. But still, these images do not completely reveal the occurrence of depression (NIH, nd). There are also studies that tested the relationship of stressful experiences with depression in other people. Accordingly, the genetic transporter was found to moderate and regulate the influence of the stressful life events with depression. Studies show that people with either one or more alleles of 5HTT promoter polymorphism experience higher depressive symptoms and suicidal attempts in dealing with stressful life events (Caspi et al., 2003). The continued social, physical, and intellectual activities in the entire life cycle are vital for the maintenance of one’s mental health in the late life of man. The stressful events of life increase with age. However, the persistent bereavement and serious depressions are not normal and must undergo treatment. The relative influence of the psychological, social, ad biological factors vary from man to man in his entire life span. Depression can arise from man’s exposure to the various stressful life events. However, it can also be due to genetic predisposition (USDOHHS, 1999). There are many stressors of depression. Many episodes and incidences of depression are associated with either acute or even chronic adversity. The death of love ones is considered as the major and power stressors of life. Grief is a universal experience with symptoms of bereavement episodes that include loss of appetite, crying spells, insomnia, and weight loss. Grief has a great impact in the emotions that must not be considered automatically to depression unless there are definite complications such as psychosis, incapacity, ad suicidal thoughts (USDOHHS, 1999, p 254). Grieving is a natural process that may share the same features with depression. However, they are different from each other in important aspects. In grief, the feelings of pain come in waves with intermixture of the positive memories of the dead love ones, where the self-esteem of the individual remains intact. Depression, on the other hand, comes with constant negative emotions as seen in the mood, and perceptions of the individual. Mostly, depression leads to corrosive emotions of self-hate and worthlessness. Depression must not be labeled as a normal bereavement consequence since its diagnosis is very different from grief (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Parental neglect, sexual abuse, physical abuse, and other maltreatment affect the emotional well-being as well as the mental functions that cause depression. The early disruptions of bonds of attachment lead to problems in the development and maintenance of interpersonal relationships. It also leads to anxiety and depression (USDOHHS, 1999, p 254).

Influence of Modern Life to Depression

The traditional community thrives on the basic needs for their daily lives. Depression is an unknown phenomenon in the traditional communities. However, in the modern world of today, people tend to be more ‘self-focused’ and selfish. People have difficulty in understanding the wider community since they are too self-absorbed about their selfish concerns. Mostly, people don’t get what they want that leads them to depression (Clinical-depression, 2015). The highly stressful environment of the modern life style combined with the lack of gratification and personal fulfillment leads other people to experience emptiness and dark emotional distress. This prevalence of depression in the modern day society is due to the people not minding their mental health. Excessive technological exposure such as video games, television, movies and other medium tend to alter the mental state where one becomes overwhelmed with the emotional stress. Stress, being a prevalent factor in today’s society needs to be reduced. This can be done through proper diet and regular exercise to lower the stress level of the people (Evans, 2014). One of the biggest factors for the modern day depression is the westernization. In places where the prevalent culture and lifestyle is based on the traditional ones, the rate of depression is incredibly low. However, in the westernized cultures, the depression rates increase. This fact is due to people’s roles becoming less defined, workplaces become more unpredictable, communities become fragmented, and relationship are more fragile and prone to breaking. The unprecedented level of choice and information leads people to confusion. People who can’t cope with stress cause depression (Bayley, 2008).

Impact of Depression

Depressive disorders such as depression are significant issue of public health. These diseases are disabling and chronic illnesses that cause an impact to the high economic society burden contributing costs that are both direct and indirect. It also has significant influences in the outcome of medical illnesses that include cancer, diabetes, cardiac diseases, and others. The under-treatment and under-recognition of depressive disorders accounts to 10% of the patients in the primary care units (Cassano and Fava, 2002). Depression has a grave impact in the nation’s economy, both in the health care and diminished productivity. It is also one of the leading causes of absenteeism and declining productivity in the workplace. People who experience depression most often seek medical help for other reasons. Most often, depressed patients seek stigmatized explanations for various reasons and undergo expensive diagnostic procedures for other complaints without having the mood disorder diagnosed or even treated (USDOHHS, 1999).

Prevention and Cure

Stress is a factor of depression when not handled properly. People overcome with the many stressful events of life tend to experience darkness and emptiness. One way for people to reduce emotional stress is to take break the many mindless and useless medium of entertainment. People must subject themselves to the ceaseless mental attacks. The mental state must have a chance for relaxation and collection of thoughts. Talking and connecting to people would also help in dealing with the stressors of life. Sometimes talking the problems and concerns with someone helps people to deal with life and the burdens along with it (Evans, 2014). Treatment of depression requires various types of interventions. The medications show no perfect evidence in reducing risk of its recurrence. There are those who respond to certain medication while there are those who do not respond to combinations of medications. Cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) is one of the effective treatments for depression. Severe cases of depression require experienced therapists for effective treatment. CBT relieves acute depression and also reduces the risk for the symptoms recurrence as long as the treatment is maintained. For more effective treatment, combination of these treatments is needed. There is a need for good medical management in treating depression. Not everyone responds to the existing interventions. Further studies are needed in the assessment of disorders that are not addressed (Hollon et al, 2002).

Hypothesis:

The prevalence of depression in today’s society is much greater than the previous years due to the factors of the society that includes the modern and fast-paced lifestyle, technological advancement and detrimental cultures.

This paper deals with the study of the disorder of depression and all the other aspects related to it. It specializes on the aspect of the modern culture integration in the study to assess its contributions in the increasing prevalence of depression. WHO made a forecast that by 2020, depression would be one of the leading burden diseases in the world (WHO, 2014). In this paper, I will collect statistics from the past until the present to present that the prevalence of the disorder is indeed increasing. The other data related to depression would also be assessed that would include the causations, symptoms, impact, prevention and cure, and the aspect of the modern day culture contribution to the increasing prevalence. The testing of the hypothesis can be done through the varied collected researches. The comparison table for the prevalence of the disease from the past until the present and the contributory factors for the increase would show that the modern day cultures vital in the study of depression.

Discussion:

Basing on the data that I would collect, I will examine the information in detail. I will compare the statistical researches and present evidence that depression is increasing from year to year. Furthermore, I will present the modern day culture as a factor to this increase. I will connect information to the modern day lifestyle of man and related its causation, prevention and cure with the prevalence of the disease. This study would be useful for the general information especially in today’s society. People nowadays are not aware of the effects of too much indulgence in technology compromising the basic of life, and forgetting about the essence of relationships and virtues. This study would highly contribute to future researches and detailed study.

Works Cited Page:

All About Depression. (2015). “Suicide and Depression”. All About Depression. American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Major Depressive Disorder and the ‘Bereavement Exclusion’. American Psychiatric Association, DSM-5. Barua, A., hosh, MK., Basilio, MA. (2011). Depressive Disorders in Elderly: An Estimation of this Public Health Problem. JIMSA. 24(4). Bayley. (2008). The Deadly Rise of Depression. Focus: Science and Technology. CANMAT. (nd). Disorder Information: What are the Signs and Symptoms of Depression. Canadian Network for Mood and Axiety Treatments (CANMAT). Cassano, P., and Fava, M. (2002). Depression and Public Health: An Overview. J Psychosome Res. 53(4): 849-57 Caspi, A., Sugden, K., Moffitt, TE., Taylor, A., Craig, IW., Harrington, H., McClay, J., Mill, J., Martin, J., Braithwaite, A., Poulton, R. (2003). Influence of Life Stress on Depression: Moderation by Polymorphism in the 5-HTT Gene. Science. 301, 386 Clinical Depression. (2015). Major Depression Facts: Understanding Clinical Depression Today. Uncommon Knowledge Today. Evans, A. (2012). “How the Modern Lifestyle Breeds Depression and Distress”. Natural Society. Goetzke, K. (2014). Depression and Anxiety: An International Perspective. Huffpost: Healthy Living. Hollon, SD., Thase, ME., and Markowitz, JC. (2002). “Treatment and Prevention of Depression”. Psychological Science in the Public Interest. Vol 3. No. 2 pp 39-77 Knott, L. (2014). Depression. Egton Medical Information Systems Ltd. UK. Halliwell, E, Main, L., and Richardson, C. (2007). The Fundamental Facts: The Latest facts and figures on mental health. Mental Health Foundation. Mayo Clinic. (2015). Depression (major depressive disorder). Mayo Clinic NIH. (nd). What is Depression?. National institute of Mental Health. Scneidman, ES., (1985). Definition of Suicide. Aronson, Northvale. Smith, M., Saisan, J., and Segal, J. (2015). Depression Symptoms and Warning Signs. Helpguide.org. Stranieri, G. and Carabetta, C. (2012). Depression and Suicidality in Modern Life. Psychiatria Danubina. 24(1): 91-91 USDOHHS : U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.(1999). Mental Health: A Report of the Surgeon General. Rockville, MD: US Department of Health and Human Services. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Center for Mental Health Services, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Mental Health. WHO. (2015). Depression. World Health Organization.

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• v.18(1); Jan-Jun 2009

Study of prevalence of depression in adolescent students of a public school

Vivek bansal.

Armed Forces Medical College, Pune 411 040, India

Sunil Goyal

Kalpana srivastava, background:.

Three to nine per cent of teenagers meet the criteria for depression at any one time, and at the end of adolescence, as many as 20% of teenagers report a lifetime prevalence of depression. Usual care by primary care physicians fails to recognize 30-50% of depressed patients.

Materials and Methods:

Cross-sectional one-time observational study using simple screening instruments for detecting early symptoms of depression in adolescents. Two psychological instruments were used: GHQ-12 and BDI. Also socio-demographic data (e.g. academic performance, marital harmony of parents, bullying in school, etc) was collected in a separate semi-structured performa. Statistical analysis was done with Fisher’s Exact Test using SPSS17.

15.2% of school-going adolescents were found to be having evidence of distress (GHQ-12 score e14); 18.4% were depressed (BDI score e12); 5.6% students were detected to have positive scores on both the instruments. Certain factors like parental fights, beating at home and inability to cope up with studies were found to be significantly ( P < 0.05) associated with higher GHQ-12 scores, indicating evidence of distress. Economic difficulty, physical punishment at school, teasing at school and parental fights were significantly ( P < 0.05) associated with higher BDI scores, indicating depression.

Conclusion:

The study highlights the common but ignored problem of depression in adolescence. We recommend that teachers and parents be made aware of this problem with the help of school counselors so that the depressed adolescent can be identified and helped rather than suffer silently.

Just 40 years ago, many physicians doubted the existence of significant depressive disorders in children. However, a growing body of evidence has confirmed that children and adolescents not only experience the whole spectrum of mood disorders but also suffer from the significant morbidity and mortality associated with them.

Despite the high prevalence and substantial impact of depression, detection and treatment in the primary care setting have been suboptimal. Studies have shown that usual care by primary care physicians fails to recognize 30-50% of depressed patients (Simon and Vonkorff, 1995). Because patients in whom depression goes unrecognized cannot be appropriately treated, systematic screening has been advocated as a means of improving detection, treatment, and outcomes of depression.

While improved pediatric diagnosis alone is unlikely to significantly change patient outcomes, recognizing teenagers with depression is the first step to improved depression management. It affects 2% of pre-pubertal children and 5-8% of adolescents. The clinical spectrum of the disease can range from simple sadness to a major depressive or bipolar disorder (Son And Kirchner, 2000). Studies have found that 3-9% of teenagers meet criteria for depression at any one time, and at the end of adolescence, as many as 20% of teenagers report a lifetime prevalence of depression (Zuckerbrotand Jensen, 2006).

Childhood depression, like the depression of adults, can encompass a spectrum of symptoms ranging from normal responses of sadness and disappointment in stressful life events to severe impairment caused by clinical depression that may or may not include evidence of mania (Wolraich et al . 1996, Kovacs et al . 1994, Weller et al . 1996).

Adolescent depression may affect the teen’s socialization, family relations, and performance at school, often with potentially serious long-term consequences. Adolescents with depression are at risk for increased hospitalizations, recurrent depressions, psychosocial impairment, alcohol abuse, and antisocial behaviors as they grow up. Of course, the most devastating outcome of concern for adolescent depression is suicide, the third leading cause of death among older adolescents (Centre for Diseases Control, WISQARS).

Corelational and longitudinal studies have shown that depression is associated with higher rates of smoking, alcohol abuse, unhealthy eating, and infrequent exercise (Haarasilta et al ., 2004, Franko et al . 2005).

No perfect depression screening/assessment tool exists, but a number of adolescent depression assessment instruments do possess adequate psychometric properties to commend their use in depression detection and assessment. Optimal diagnostic procedures should combine the use of depression-specific screening tools as diagnostic aids buttressed by follow-up clinical interviews in which one obtains information from other informants (e.g., parents) and reconciles discrepant information to arrive at an accurate diagnosis and impairment assessment before treatment (Laasa et al . 2000).

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Study design.

It is a cross-sectional one-time observational study using simple screening instruments for detecting early symptoms of depression in adolescents.

Adolescents studying in a public school constituted the study material. All the 125 students studying in 9th standard of the school were evaluated so as to eliminate any selection bias. Questionnaires were given in the class and students were instructed how to fill them in English or Hindi language.

Students were instructed not to write their names to maintain confidentiality. Written consent was taken from everyone and they were explained about the study project.

Inclusion criteria

• Adolescents studying in 9 th standard of the school.
• All were overtly healthy.

Exclusion criteria

• All students suffering from any kind of chronic disease requiring prescribed medication.
• All students who had taken any such screening tests before.
• Any past history of diagnosed mental illness.

The following two instruments were administered:

• GHQ 12 (General Health Questionairre-12)
• BDI (Becks Depression Inventory)

The General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) is a subjective measure of psychological wellbeing and Stress Measurement. It has been used in a variety of studies to represent the stress response.

We have used Likert method of scoring in our study. Score of 14 and above is taken as evidence of distress (Goldberg and Williams 1991).

The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) is a series of questions developed to measure the intensity, severity, and depth of depression in patients with psychiatric diagnoses. The sum of all BDI item scores indicates the severity of depression. Score of 12 and above is taken as Depression. Predictive value of the selected cut-off point, 100% sensitivity, 99% specificity, 0.72 PPV, 1 NPV, and 98% overall diagnostic value (Laasa et al . 2000).

Also socio-demographic data (e.g. academic performance, marital harmony of parents, bullying in school, etc) was collected in a separate semi-structured performa.

Statistical analysis was done with Fisher’s Exact Test using SPSS 17.

In GHQ-12, out of 125 adolescents, 106 did not had any evidence of stress (score <14) and 19(15.2%) were found to be having evidence of distress (score e"14). In BDI, out of 125, 102 were not depressed (score<12) and 23 (18.4%) were depressed (scoree"12).

There were in all 35 students who were detected to have positive scores either in GHQ-12 or BDI. There were seven students who had positive scores on GHQ and BDI [Tables ​ [Tables1 1 and ​ and2 2 ].

Psychosocial correlates of distress (identified by GHQ) in the adolescents

Psychosocial correlates of depression (identified by BDI) in the adolescents

The present study found that 15.2% of the adolescents had evidence of distress and 18.4% were found to be depressed. We tried to find the factors responsible and association of the same with the prevalent stress. We found certain factors like parental fights, beating at home and inability to cope up with studies, to be significantly ( P <0.05) associated with higher GHQ-12 scores indicating evidence of distress.

Economic difficulty, physical punishment at school, teasing at school and parental fights were significantly ( P <0.05) associated with higher BDI scores indicating depression.

Factors like bullying in school and parental expectations also are responsible to adding to the stress of an adolescent though it did not reach a statistically significant level in the present study.

The generalizability of the current results is limited since the timing of the study was when the students had just entered 9 th standard and were in a jovial mood with comparatively lesser study load but this problem is unavoidable unless multiple studies are done at different times of the year and averaged out.

Cut-off score for BDI ranges from 10-12 depending upon different studies. We took the cut-off score for BDI as 12 thereby increasing the specificity to 99%.

Also, other class students and other schools should also be included in the study for increased generalizability. More extensive studies are required with greater diversity of students, schools and done at different times of the year.

In spite of the limitations, this study points towards the issue of prevalence of depression in adolescence and the purpose of the study is well served to highlight the common but ignored problem.

We recommend that teachers and parents be made aware of this problem with the help of school counselors so that the depressed adolescent can be identified and helped rather than suffer silently.

Source of Support: Nil

Conflict of Interest: None declared

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• Research and Innovation
• Student Symposium

2024 SSIRCA

Friday, april 26, 2024.

Welcome to the 2024 Symposium for Student Innovation, Research, and Creative Activities (SSIRCA)!

View below for more information on the symposium and a full listing of the presentations.

About SSIRCA

Location: UC Tejas Lounge Time: 8 a.m. - 1 p.m.

What to expect:

• All participants will check-in at the UC Tejas Lounge. 
• Presenters will receive their participant packets, which will include their name badge, participant certificate, and a copy of the symposium schedule.
• Judges, Volunteers, and Committee Members will receive their name badges.

Advice for Presenters

• Consult your mentor.
• Be sure to review the Judging Rubric and Symposium Awards.
• Arrive before your session and ensure your presentation file is on the computer in your room.
• All presentations will start promptly at the time listed in the program.
• The session moderator will introduce you.
• Oral presentations are 15 minutes: 12 minutes for content, 3 minutes to answer questions, with a 1-minute buffer.
• Signal the presenter with 3 fingers when 3 minutes are remaining
• Stand at one minute remaining.
• Stand next to the presenter when their time is up.
• Hang your poster/set up your artworks between 8 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. on Friday, April 26th, in UC Anchor CD.
• Poster hanging supplies (binder clips) will be provided.
• Poster presentations have a 3-minute elevator pitch.
• Try to not clutter the poster area with your bags; there isn't much room.
• Stay near your poster/artworks during the poster/art gallery. Evaluators will be visiting you between 1 and 2:30 p.m. You can’t win if you aren't evaluated.
• For artists with artwork, consult your mentor.
• Arrive early to get set up.
• Signal the presenter with 3 fingers when 3 minutes are remaining.
• Stand at one minute remaining,

Rethinking Impostor Syndrome™

Why Capable Students Doubt their Competence and What to Do About It   Featuring Dr. Valerie Young

Date:  Friday, April 26, 2024 Time:  3:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. Location:  University Center Lonestar Ballroom, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi

Select the button below to learn more.

Organizing Committee

Judging rubric.

SSIRCA judging is conducted electronically via Judgify. Judges will evaluate all presentations using the following rubrics, on a scale of 1 to 10 for each question (1 being the lowest and 10 being the highest):

Undergraduate and Graduate Oral/Poster Presentations

• Knowledge/Proficiency of Subject/Discipline: Did the presenter demonstrate knowledge/proficiency in their project?
• Effective Use of Methods or Medium:  Did presenter use appropriate methods or medium for the study?
• Effectiveness/Organization of Presentation:  Is the project presented clearly, free of grammatical errors, and in a manner that connects with the audience?
• Graphics/Visual Aids:  Were appropriate graphics used to help explain and reinforce the topic?
• Clarity of Responses to Questions:  Did the presenter answer questions with explanations and elaboration?

Undergraduate and Graduate Artistic Displays

Symposium awards.

Symposium awards are distributed based on scoring in each presensation category. The presentation categories are:

• Undergraduate Oral Presentations
• Graduate Oral Presentations

Undergraduate Artistic Displays

Graduate artistic displays.

• Undergraduate Poster Presentations
• Graduate Poster Presentations

Additionally, student organizations will provide prizes to applicable presentations. Student organizations will award prizes during the SSIRCA Mixer.

Student Passport Prize

Students that completely fill in their  passport  will be entered to win a $100 prize (TAMU-CC students only).

QR codes for the passport are hung in or outside of every room where presentations are occurring. Use your phone to access the passport. To fulfill your Passport requirements, you will need to attend 3 Posters, 3 Oral Presentations (or 2 Oral Presentations and 1 Performance) and 1 Art Exhibit. Take a picture of the presentation/performance/display to verify your presence and upload the pictures using this form ! April 26, 2024 at 2:30 p.m. is the deadline for submissions.

Oral Presentations and Performances

Session 1 - uc cayo 210, innovations in education and belongings.

GR_Oral-0001 |  Metadiscourse markers in L2 college source-based informative essays Anh Thuy Dang Pham 8:30 - 8:45 a.m. _______________________________________________________________

Session 2 - UC Copano 216

Innovations in environmental science and technology.

GR_Oral-0027 |  Vision Adaptive Scene Generation Using GANs Mohammed Ali Sheriff Shaik 8:30 - 8:45 a.m. _______________________________________________________________

Session 3 - UC Dolphin 306

Innovations in environmental monitoring.

GR_Oral-0025 | Reconfigurable Sensing Modules for Coastal Monitoring: Energy Efficient and Battery-less Autonomous Wireless Sensor Networks Ruben Dominguez 8:30 - 8:45 a.m. _______________________________________________________________

Session 4 - UC Marlin 317

Advancements in uas technology.

GR_Oral-0015 |  Coordination and Autonomy in UAV Swarms for Array Imaging Josh Boyd 8:30 - 8:45 a.m. _______________________________________________________________

Session 5 - UC Cayo 210

Innovations in stem education.

GR_Oral-0021 |  Inspiring the Next Generation of Scientists and Educators Through a University-Middle School Collaboration Jacquline Rich 9:45 - 10:00 a.m. _______________________________________________________________

Session 6 - UC Copano 216

Innovations in healthcare.

UG_Oral-0005 |  Functionalized Magnetic Nanoparticles for Oral Health Megan Escochea 9:45 - 10:00 a.m. _______________________________________________________________

Session 7 - UC Dolphin 306

Environmental and human impact on coastal ecosystems.

UG_Oral-0001 |  Detection of Human Pharmaceuticals in Blubber of Wild Dolphins Anya Isabelle Ocampos 9:45 - 10:00 a.m. _______________________________________________________________

Session 8 - UC Anchor AB

Innovations in harmonies.

UG_Art-0014 |  Islander Brass Quintet + 1 Gavin Granados ;  Ben Camareno ;  Natalia Canelo ;  Jaden Byars 9:45 - 10:00 a.m. _______________________________________________________________

Session 9 - UC Cayo 210

Advances in uas and structural engineering.

GR_Oral-0024 | Collision-Free Motion Planning for Autonomous UAVs in Dynamic Environments Syed Izzat Ullah 11:00- 11:15 a.m. _______________________________________________________________

Session 10 - UC Copano 216

Insights into coastal ecosystems.

GR_Oral-0012 | A Time Series Study of the Microbial Community Assemblage at a Coastal Ocean Site within the Gulf of Mexico Mahima Yogesh 11:00- 11:15 a.m. _______________________________________________________________

Session 11 - UC Anchor AB

Exploring theatrical artistry.

UG_Art-0007 | Purple Nurples: A Devised piece of Theatre Natalie Festari 11:00- 11:15 a.m. _______________________________________________________________

Poster Presentations and Art Gallery

Undergraduate posters, graduate posters.

GR_Poster-0001 |  Common Bottlenose Dolphin Acoustics in Diverse Foraging Contexts Emily McGhee _______________________________________________________________ GR_Poster-0002 |  From "Old Age" to "New Sage" Studying How Adults 55+ Learn Shelby Sharpe _______________________________________________________________

GR_Poster-0003 |  Addressing Elementary Students Academic Learning Losses Post Covid-19 Mary Keene _______________________________________________________________

 GR_Poster-0005 | Establishing A Point of Beginning – a Novel Approach to Online Asynchronous Geomatics Education for Texas High School Students Aurelia O'Neil _______________________________________________________________

GR_Poster-0006 |  What Birds Tell Us: Monitoring Birds in Cacao Agroforests of Western Ecuador Using Bioacoustics Rebecca Davis _______________________________________________________________

GR_Poster-0007 |  Using Vibrio alginolyticus Isolates to Determine the Efficacy of Plant Tinctures to Inhibit Vibrio spp. Brian Kostoch _______________________________________________________________

GR_Poster-0008 |  Prediction of Ultimate Bearing Capacity of Shallow Foundations Using Monotonically Constrained Neural Network Oluwaseun Ogunfile _______________________________________________________________

GR_Poster-0009 |  Early Childhood General Education Novice Teachers and the Inclusive Classroom-Pilot Study Kimberly C Juneau _______________________________________________________________

GR_Poster-0010 |  WHAT IS THE MOST EFFECTIVE TEACHING STRATEGY FOR ENGLISH SPEAKERS TO MASTER MANDARIN PRONUNCIATION BY APPLYING PINYIN? Yun Lee _______________________________________________________________

GR_Poster-0011 |  Obesity, Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Neighborhood Environments in the City of Corpus Christi, TX Emily Brennan _______________________________________________________________

GR_Poster-0012 |  Assessment of Water Quality in a Model Coastal Bend Canal Community Nora Bleth _______________________________________________________________

GR_Poster-0013 |  Does the environment or social media affect our teens emotional health? Kelci Ellis _______________________________________________________________

GR_Poster-0015 |  Synthesis of Amphiphilic Naphthalimide-Based Fluorescent Molecular Sensor Victoire Delattre _______________________________________________________________

GR_Poster-0016 |  Technology in Elementary School Education Nia Balarin _______________________________________________________________

GR_Poster-0017 |  Characterizing Cyanobacterial Mats on Wind-Tidal Flats at Padre Island National Seashore Zahra Hasan _______________________________________________________________

GR_Poster-0018 | Prevalence and Prevention of Suicidality in Adolescents Joely Diaczenko _______________________________________________________________

GR_Poster-0019 | Epidemic modeling on networks Aleksei Krasnikov _______________________________________________________________

GR_Poster-0020 | Synthesis and purification of novel bifurcated amino acid- based surfactants Angelina Garcia _______________________________________________________________

GR_Poster-0021 | Nurdle Rush - From Gamer to Citizen Scientist Khoi Nguyen _______________________________________________________________

GR_Poster-0022 | Physical Properties of Mixed Cationic and Anionic Amino Acid Surfactants Rita Muniz _______________________________________________________________

GR_Poster-0024 | Quantifying the distribution of a key microarthropod across the coastal transition gradient in Oso Bay wetlands Peyton Calderon _______________________________________________________________

GR_Poster-0025 | The Influence of Sensation-Seeking Behaviors in Predicting Suicidal Ideation in Gen-Z Adolescence Justen Schroeder _______________________________________________________________

GR_Poster-0027 | Exploring Psychedelic Potentials: A Neurophysiological Investigation of Psilocin in an Invertebrate Model Hannah Yarbrough _______________________________________________________________

GR_Poster-0028 | A MULTI-SPECIES ASSESSMENT OF THE INGLESIDE SANDSHEET POND HABITAT USING REMOTE-SENSING OBSERVATION METHODS Aubany Moon _______________________________________________________________

GR_Poster-0029 | Research Proposal Project: Investigating the Relationship Between Adolescent Mental Health, Screen Time, and Body Image Perceptions Dominique Herrera Pena _______________________________________________________________

GR_Poster-0030 | Nitric oxide effects on neural correlates of long-term sensitization in the mollusk Aplysia Landrue C Richards _______________________________________________________________

GR_Poster-0031 | Assessing Invasive Feral Swine Diet in the Aransas and Copano Bay Wetlands Brenna Edwards; Annalisa Hernandez _______________________________________________________________

GR_Poster-0032 | Development of Seagrass Epiphyte Image Analysis to Detect Changing Environmental Conditions Carissa Pinon _______________________________________________________________

GR_Poster-0033 | Solubility and aggregation behaviors of dicarboxylic mixed micelle amino acid-based surfactant systems Xitlali Gallegos-Cruz _______________________________________________________________

GR_Poster-0034 | Creating a Geo-spatial Map from the Quantification of Light Attenuation Laura Ramirez _______________________________________________________________

GR_Poster-0035 | Optimizing Orbitrap-based isotopic analysis of nitrate by coupling Orbitrap-MS with chromatographic separation techniques Allyson Girard _______________________________________________________________

GR_Poster-0036 | Managing time-sensitive Applications in Vehicular Digital Twin Environment Using Serverless Computing Abdolazim Rezaei _______________________________________________________________

GR_Poster-0037 | On modeling brittle fracture within the context of strain-limiting theories of elasticity Maria Pieo Fernando _______________________________________________________________

GR_Poster-0038 | Digital Elevation Model Generation using Highly Oblique Stereo Imagery via Structure from Motion Photogrammetry in a Coastal Area Mona Hajiesmaeeli _______________________________________________________________

GR_Poster-0039 | A quick method for assessing algal blooms at the sea surface microlayer (SML) of Corpus Christi Bay Maira Afzal _______________________________________________________________

GR_Poster-0040 | Coastal Community Resilience: Post-Disaster Depression and Anxiety in a Texas Ethnic Minority Community Ana Marisa Guerrero _______________________________________________________________

GR_Poster-0043 | Pilot Testing of Survey Instrument for School Teacher's Retirement Decision Rizwan Shaikh _______________________________________________________________

GR_Poster-0044 | Pilot study of Effects of Vitamin D levels and Maximal Aerobic Power in NCAA Division I Basketball Athletes Leah Rae Solis _______________________________________________________________

GR_Poster-0045 | Vitamin D Levels and the Effect on Muscular Power Emily Ramirez _______________________________________________________________

GR_Poster-0046 | Sun Exposure, Skin Phenotype, and Nutrition Sources on Vitamin D Levels in Division 1 Men's Basketball Hunter Alonzo

UG_Art-0002 | Celestial Navigation Jazlyn Voorhees _______________________________________________________________

UG_Art-0004 | Suspect Botany Danielle Griffin _______________________________________________________________

UG_Art-0005 | Whimsy and wonder: fusing materials to make sculpture. Judy Metcalf _______________________________________________________________

UG_Art-0006 | Doll Making and Design Angela Owens _______________________________________________________________

UG_Art-0009 | Got Plastic? Amber Basaldu; Alina DeJesus; Misty Gonzalez _______________________________________________________________

UG_Art-0010 | First United Methodist Church John Conyers _______________________________________________________________

UG_Art-0011 | Portfolio Lawson Love _______________________________________________________________

UG_Art-0012 | Artwork Showcase Daniel De Leoj

UG_Art-0013 | The Ballad of Maria Martin Lighting Design Mark Capuano; Robert Wilt

GR_Art-0001 | An Investigation into Allegorical Storytelling Ashley Burnett _______________________________________________________________

GR_Art-0002 | Artificial Aesthetics: Challenging Art with AI Ian Manseau _______________________________________________________________

GR_Art-0003 | Unveiling personal narratives through surreal imagery Mariana Ruvalcaba Cruz

University Center

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TAMU-CC Researchers Utilize Innovative Technology to Reveal Composition of Nanoplastic in Ocean Waters

TAMU-CC Serves Up Etiquette Sessions to Perfect Students’ Business Dining Skills

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5 key findings about LGBTQ+ Americans

Pew Research Center has been tracking Americans’ attitudes toward same-sex marriage , gender identity and other LGBTQ+ issues for more than a decade. In that time, we have also done deep explorations of the experiences of LGBT and transgender and nonbinary Americans.

As the United States celebrates LGBTQ+ Pride month , here are five key findings about LGBTQ+ Americans from our recent surveys:

Some 7% of Americans are lesbian, gay or bisexual, according to a Pew Research Center survey of 12,147 U.S. adults conducted in summer 2022. Some 17% of adults younger than 30 identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual, compared with 8% of those ages 30 to 49, 5% of those 50 to 64 and 2% of those 65 and older. Similar shares of men and women identify with any of these terms, as do similar shares of adults across racial and ethnic groups.

Pew Research Center sought to provide an overview of findings on LGBTQ+ Americans. The overview is based on data from Center surveys and analyses conducted from 2019 to 2022, including a 2019 analysis of 2017 survey data from Stanford University. Links to the methodology and questions used can be found in the text and at the bottom of this overview.

More Americans identify as bisexual than as gay or lesbian. Among adults who are lesbian, gay or bisexual, 62% identify as bisexual, while 38% are gay or lesbian, according to the same 2022 survey.

Among Americans who are lesbian, gay or bisexual, the vast majority of women say they are bisexual (79%) while the majority of men say they are gay (57%).

Adults younger than 50 who are lesbian, gay or bisexual are far more likely to identify as bisexual (69%) than as gay or lesbian (31%). The opposite is true among those ages 50 and older: 66% identify as gay or lesbian and 34% as bisexual.

Bisexual adults are far less likely than gay or lesbian adults to be “out” to the important people in their life,  according to a 2019 Center analysis of survey data from Stanford University. Only 19% of those who identify as bisexual say all or most of the important people in their life are aware of their sexual orientation. In contrast, 75% of gay or lesbian adults say the same. About one-quarter of bisexual adults (26%) say they are not “out” to any of the important people in their life, compared with 4% of gay or lesbian adults.

One factor that might contribute to bisexual adults being less likely to be “out” is that most (82%) bisexual men and women who are married or living with a partner are in a relationship with someone of the opposite gender, according to a new Center survey .

Some 1.6% of U.S. adults are transgender or nonbinary – that is, their gender differs from the sex they were assigned at birth.  Adults under 30 are more likely than older adults to be trans or nonbinary . Some 5.1% of adults younger than 30 are trans or nonbinary, including 2.0% who are trans men or trans women and 3.0% who are nonbinary – that is, they are neither a man nor a woman, or not strictly one or the other. (Due to rounding, subtotals may not add up to the total.) This compares with 1.6% of those ages 30 to 49 and 0.3% of those 50 and older who are trans or nonbinary.

Related: Essay: The experiences, challenges and hopes of transgender and nonbinary adults

The share of U.S. adults who are transgender is particularly high among adults younger than 25. In this age group, 3.1% are trans men or trans women, compared with just 0.5% of those ages 25 to 29. There is no statistically significant difference between these two age groups in the share who are nonbinary.

While a relatively small share of U.S. adults are transgender or nonbinary, many Americans say they know someone who is. More than four-in-ten U.S. adults (44%) say they personally know someone who is trans , and 20% know someone who is nonbinary.

About a quarter of U.S. adults (27%) say they have a trans friend, while 13% say they have a co-worker who is trans and 10% say they have a trans family member. About one-in-ten adults (9%) say they know a trans person who is younger than 18.

A  2021 Center survey  found that 26% of U.S. adults personally knew someone who goes by gender-neutral pronouns such as “they” instead of “he” or “she,” up from 18% in 2018 .

Note: This is an update of a post originally published June 13, 2017. Findings from two surveys were used in this analysis:

• July 18-Aug. 21, 2022: Survey questions, with responses , and methodology
• April 10-16, 2023: Survey questions, with responses , and methodology
• Gender Identity
• LGBTQ Attitudes & Experiences

Anna Brown is a research associate focusing on social and demographic trends research at Pew Research Center

Who Are You? The Art and Science of Measuring Identity

Black americans firmly support gender equality but are split on transgender and nonbinary issues   , black democrats differ from other democrats in their views on gender identity, transgender issues, parents differ sharply by party over what their k-12 children should learn in school, how americans view policy proposals on transgender and gender identity issues, and where such policies exist, most popular.

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