Having seen the family and environmental risk factors for childhood depression, we now stop at the individual factors that cause children to suffer depression.
It is a series of risk factors that analyzes the Clinical Practice Guide on Major Depression in Children and in Adolescence, which is the result of the work of a group of professionals belonging to the different disciplines that integrate the assistance of patients with depression.
The Guide in the review process has had the collaboration of scientific societies and patient associations directly involved in this health problem, and constitutes a highly recommended approach to better understand childhood depression.
Individual risk factors for childhood depression
Male or female sex. Before adolescence, depressive disorders are practically the same in boys as in girls. However, in the first half of adolescence, these disorders are two or three times more frequent in females.
Genetic and biochemical risk factors. Up to 20-50% of children or adolescents with depressive disorders have a family history of depression or another mental illness. However, current information suggests that genetic factors may be less important in the presentation of depression in childhood than in adolescence. However, it is not clear which is the weight of the genetic factors and which of the environmental factors in the development of depression.
There is some evidence indicating that alterations of the serotonergic and corticosuprenal systems could be involved in the biology of depression in children and adolescents.
Psychological factors. It is thought that temperament has a genetic-biological basis, although experience and learning, particularly within the social context, can influence its development and expression. Negative affectivity (the tendency to experience negative emotional states) leads to greater reactivity to negative stimuli, and is associated with a higher probability of emotional disorders, especially in girls. Given the occurrence of stressful life events, cognitive characteristics associated with negative affectivity, such as feelings of abandonment or loss and / or low self-esteem, as well as a cognitive ruminant style, can make coping difficult and increase the likelihood of suffering depression compared to those individuals without these characteristics.
The presence of depressive symptoms, such as anhedonia or thoughts of death, significantly increases the risk of major depression in children and adolescents.
Finally, those children and adolescents with physical or learning disabilities, attention deficit, hyperactivity or behavioral disorders also have an increased risk of depression.
As we see, the individual risk factors that favor childhood depression They are varied and focus on gender, genetic and psychological aspects. A single factor cannot explain the development of childhood depression, but it can serve to prevent it.
