Prevalence of depressive symptoms and serious suicidal thoughts among adolescents aged 12–17 by rurality in the United States

IF 3.2 3区医学 Q1 PUBLIC, ENVIRONMENTAL & OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH

Public Health Pub Date : 2025-09-04 DOI:10.1016/j.puhe.2025.105925

Cassie Lewis Odahowski , Jeanette Garcia , Emma Boswell , Joy Taazieh , Peiyin Hung , Christina Andrews , Elizabeth Crouch

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Objectives

This study examines rural vs. urban prevalence rates of depressive symptoms and serious suicidal thoughts and in a nationally representative sample of adolescents.

Study design

This nationally representative cross-sectional study examined data for 22,712 adolescents aged 12–17 years from the 2021 and 2022 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH).

Methods

Prevalence estimates of adolescent depressive symptoms and serious suicidal thoughts were produced overall and across three levels of rurality: large metro, small metro, and nonmetro. Rates were compared by Rao-Scott chi-square tests, and weighted multivariable logistic regressions compared associations between rurality and sociodemographic characteristics with each outcome.

Results

Over half (54.45%) of adolescents reported ever experiencing a period of depressive symptoms, while 19.35% reported these feelings in the past year, and 13.18% reported serious thoughts of suicide in the past year. Rates of ever experiencing depressive symptoms (p = 0.31) or in the past year (p = 0.74) were not significantly different by rurality. Similarly, prevalence rates of serious suicidal thoughts did not differ significantly among adolescents in nonmetro (12.95%), small metro areas (13.71%), large metro (12.95%; p = 0.21). Ever experiencing depressive symptoms (aOR 7.18, 95%CI: 5.26–9.80) and past year depressive symptoms (aOR 5.98, 95%CI: 4.88–7.32) were related to increased odds of serious suicidal thoughts.

Conclusions

Findings show that over 50% of adolescents reported depressive symptoms and the strong link to serious suicidal thoughts indicates the need for improved early mental health interventions for adolescents across all levels of rurality.

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美国农村地区12-17岁青少年抑郁症状和严重自杀念头的患病率

目的：本研究在全国具有代表性的青少年样本中调查农村和城市抑郁症状和严重自杀念头的患病率。这项具有全国代表性的横断面研究检查了来自2021年和2022年全国药物使用和健康调查（NSDUH）的22,712名12-17岁青少年的数据。方法对青少年抑郁症状和严重自杀念头的患病率进行总体估计，并在三个农村水平上进行评估：大地铁、小地铁和非地铁。采用Rao-Scott卡方检验比较发病率，加权多变量logistic回归比较农村性和社会人口学特征与每个结果之间的关联。结果超过一半（54.45%）的青少年报告有过抑郁症状，其中19.35%的青少年在过去一年中有过抑郁症状，13.18%的青少年在过去一年中有过严重的自杀念头。曾经经历过抑郁症状的比率（p = 0.31）或过去一年的比率（p = 0.74）在农村地区没有显著差异。同样，非大都市地区（12.95%）、小大都市地区（13.71%）和大城市地区（12.95%,p = 0.21）青少年的严重自杀念头患病率也无显著差异。曾经经历过抑郁症状（aOR 7.18, 95%CI: 5.26-9.80）和过去一年的抑郁症状（aOR 5.98, 95%CI: 4.88-7.32）与严重自杀念头的几率增加有关。研究结果表明，超过50%的青少年报告有抑郁症状，并且抑郁与严重的自杀念头有密切的联系，这表明需要改善农村各级青少年的早期心理健康干预。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Public Health 医学-公共卫生、环境卫生与职业卫生

CiteScore

7.60

自引率

0.00%

发文量

280

审稿时长

37 days

期刊介绍： Public Health is an international, multidisciplinary peer-reviewed journal. It publishes original papers, reviews and short reports on all aspects of the science, philosophy, and practice of public health.