Depression is one of common mental health disorder in adolescence manifested by loss of interest or pleasure, feeling guilt or low self-worth, persistence sadness, feeling of tired ness, and poor concentration that could deteriorate individuals ability to perform at work or school or in daily life(1). Globally, an estimated 10–20% of children and adolescents are affected by mental health problems(2). Worldwide, depressive disorder incidence among adolescent is increasing sharply after puberty and by the end of adolescence, with the one year prevalence rate exceeding 4%(3). In united states of America, the prevalence of depression among adolescents especially in age group of 12–17 years had increased from 8.1% in 2009 to 15.8% in in 2019(4).
In South Eastern Asian countries the mid-point prevalence of depression among youth was 29.4%(5). The magnitude of depression in Asian countries varies from countries to countries like 30%in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (6), Malaysia 32.7%(7) and 52.9% in urban area of Haryana, India(8).
In Sub-Sahara Africa, the prevalence of mental health problem is 14.3%(9). Adolescence depression in Uganda is 20% with suicidal ideation of 13.89%(10). Twenty one percent of the South African orphaned adolescents in secondary school had depressive symptoms(11),
Ethiopian health survey indicated that the prevalence of depressive episode among adults is 9.1%(12). In Addis Ababa 36.4%(13), Tesfaye et al in Jimma found 13.1% among community(14), 36.2% in Aksum Tigray (15) and 28% of adolescents in Jimma were having depressive symptoms (16).
The mental health problems during adolescence are usually undiagnosed and untreated especially in developing countries where access to psychological and psychiatric services are limited(2). Depression in adolescence is a major reason for committing suicide. More than half of adolescents committed suicide reported to have depressive disorder at the time of death(3). Depressive disorder in adolescence could result in severe social and educational impairments (3, 17), smoking, substance misuse, drug use, alcohol use, and obesity (2, 3). Above all the failure to notice and address this problem is the major public health problem with consequence on the achievement of basic development goals in low- and middle-income countries(2).
The WHO developed a guideline for the member states on mental health promotive and preventive interventions for adolescents as helping adolescents thrive in 2020(18). Ethiopia has introduced its first ever national mental health strategy in 2012(19). In 2019, around 26% of health facilities in Ethiopia had integrated mental health services to their general health services. However, child and adolescent mental health care are almost non-existent with only one rehabilitation center in Ethiopia(20).
Different factors were found to be associated with adolescence depression, in Jima being female, rural residence, low social support, being in higher grade level, and adverse childhood experience were found to be independently associated with a higher score of depression(16). Parental neglect(15), history of sexual abuse(10), lived with single parent or alone, been emotionally abused and being subject to physical violence at least once(6) are also related with adolescent depression. Other independent predictors are poor inter-parental relationship, poor adolescent-parent relationship, low socio-economic status, low parental education level, and poor academic performance (21).
Different studies conducted previously focused on vulnerable groups like orphans and female adolescents and in public schools excluding private ones. The current study included both sex and both school setups. Furthermore, up to the best of my knowledge, the magnitude and associated factors among adolescents in Hosanna town is not studied.
Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine magnitude of depression and identify associated factors among adolescents attending high schools in Hosanna town, southern Ethiopia, 2022.