Adolescent Girls I Self-Reported Mood Disturbance in a Community Population

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Abstract
Background: This study was undertaken to fill gaps in our knowledge of the rate of mood disorder in teenage girls in transition from school to further education, employment or unemployment.Method: Girls aged 15–20 years (n = 529) whose names were drawn from general practitioner age/sex registers were interviewed at home and completed the Great Ormond Street Mood Questionnaire. Their mothers completed the 28-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ). Social background variables were obtained.Results: Of the girls, 20.8% scored over the cut-off point previously established to indicate risk of psychiatric disorder. Scoring over the cut-off point was not associated with age or parental social class. It was associated with parental separation/divorce (P < 0.004), with maternal self-report on the GHQ (P < 0.001), and with parental unemployment (P < 0.04). Lowest self-report scores were obtained by girls who had left school and were in employment (P < 0.01).Conclusions: About one in five of girls aged 15–20 are at risk of affective disorder. Self-reported mood disturbance is associated with a wide range of social and familial background variables, but not with age or parental socioeconomic status.