The Association Between Depression and Family Functioning in Seventh Grade Students in Ubonratchathani Province

Abstract

ABSTRACT

Objective: To study the association between depression and family functioning in seventh grade students in Ubonratchathani province.

Materials and Methods: The samples of this study consisted of 469 students in grade 7 in Ubonratchathani province. They were recruited by multi-stage random sampling. The Children’s Depression Inventory (CDI) was used to determine depression and the Chulalongkorn Family Inventory (CFI) was used to examine patterns of family functioning.

Results: The mean score of CDI was 12.8 (SD = 6.3). When using the CDI cut off score of 21, there was 53 students having clinical depressed, thus the prevalence of depression was 11.3%. The total score of CFI in depression group was significantly lower than the non-depressed (97.2 (SD = 12.5) and 112.2 (SD = 10.7) respectively, p < 0.05). All subscale scores of CFI between 2 groups both groups differed significantly except for Behavior Control. By using Pearson’s product moment correlation the CDI scores and CFI scores were found to have significantly negative correlation (r = -0.482, p < 0.01).

Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that family functioning and depression are related. Empowering families and helping them to function better play major roles in the treatment and prevention of depression in adolescents.