Depression Prevention for African-American Adolescents

DESCRIPTION: (adapted from Investigator's abstract) Low income, inner-city, African-American adolescents are at high risk for depression, due to the many stressors associated with being adolescent, poor, and minority. This is an exploratory project that will use a controlled randomized design to examine the impact of a 15-session, group-based, cognitive-behavioral depression preventive intervention adapted for low income, inner-city African-American adolescents. This study will lay the groundwork for a future effectiveness study. Participants will be 1029 freshmen and 765 sophomore African-American students, attending three inner-city high schools located in low-income Chicago neighborhoods. They will be administered the Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale (CES-D) and the Adolescent Health Assessment-2000, a collection of psychometrically sound instruments which assess the various study variables of interest. Those students who are determined to be at-risk for depression, based on elevated CES-D scores (i.e., _24), will be interviewed using the DISCIV. Variables of interest include stress, coping, aggression, socio-ecological factors, and other indicators of emotional/physical well-being and adjustment. Students who are at-risk for depression but who do not have a current Depressive, Bipolar, Dysthymic, Cyclothymic and/or Conduct Disorder will be randomized to either the culturally adapted 15-session, group-based, cognitive-behavioral depression preventive intervention or the "usual care" control condition. Upon completion of the preventive intervention, students in both conditions will be reassessed using the CESD, the DISC-IV, and the AHA-2000 and will be tracked for follow-up assessments at 6 months. Students who meet DSM.-IV criteria for the above mentioned disorders will either be treated by on-site school based health center staff or referred for community-based service. The study will employ multiple data sources including: teachers' reports, school archival data and primary health care records.