ABSTRACT
One relatively brief period of the life span, adolescence, contains the first expressions of two of the most significant aspects of depression noted around the world: the strikingly high level of prevalence and the “gender switch” in incidence. The dramatic rise in rates of depressive symptoms and diagnoses begins in early adolescence and quickly reaches the same high rates that characterize adulthood (Brooks-Gunn & Peterson, 1991; Fleming & Offord, 1990; Gotlib & Hammen, 1992; Kashani et al., 1987a, 1987b; McFarlane, Bellissimo, Norman, & Lange, 1994; Monck, Graham, Richman, & Dobbs, 1994a; Nolen-Hoeksema, Girgus, & Seligman, 1991; Petersen, Sarigiani, & Kennedy, 1991; Rutter, 1986). Early adolescence is also the period in which girls begin to outnumber boys by three to one in the incidence of depression. Prior to adolescence, boys have either equal or higher rates of depression than girls (Anderson, Williams, McGee, & Silva, 1987; Kandel & Davies, 1982; Lewinsohn, Hops, Roberts, Seeley, & Andrews, 1993; Nolen-Hoeksema, 1987, 1990; Nolen-Hceksema & Girgus, 1994; Nolen-Hoeksema, Girgus, & Seligman, 1992; Petersen et al., 1991; Reinherz et al., 1989). As the period of origin of both the rise in prevalence and the gender switch, adolescence is a uniquely important life-span period in which to investigate the causes and consequences of depression (Allgood-Merten, Lewinsohn, & Hops, 1990; Gjerde & Block, 1991; Petersen et al., 1993).
