Depression statistics and studies are always sobering, but perhaps no findings are as grave as those concerning teenage depression. Studies show that up to one in every eight teenagers experiences depression. An additional 20% show symptoms that put them at risk of chronic teenage depression. While the consequences of untreated depression can be devastating regardless of the age of the sufferer, a new study finds that teenage depression sufferers may be among the most vulnerable to additional consequences of all...

Recent surveys indicate that up to three million teenagers in the United States alone suffer from adolescent depression. What's more troubling, experts estimate that four in five teenage depression sufferers will not receive adequate forms of treatment. Many will not be treated because their parents and teachers miss the symptoms, while others may carefully disguise the severity of their symptoms out of shame or fear of reprisal. The stigma of teenage depression, however, does not come without a high price both individually and socially. A new study makes that price more clear and shocking than ever.

Recently published in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, the study was based on surveys of hundreds of teenagers at middle and high schools across the country. Based on their findings, researchers conclude that all depressed teenagers, especially young females who experience teenage depression, are at a dramatically higher risk of being victimized by domestic violence later in adulthood.

Young women who were identified as adolescent depression sufferers were a stunning 86% more likely to report being hit, publicly humiliated or otherwise victimized by a partner. The study's authors, based at the University of California-San Francisco School of Medicine, also found that teenage depression sufferers were more likely to be cohabitating with an abusive partner five years after the onset of adolescent depression symptoms. Women with a history of depression were also found to be less likely to leave a relationship once abuse becomes apparent. Researchers suggested that women with histories of teenage depression may feel more dependent, emotionally or financially, on their partners than women with no history of depression.

Another link in the chain between teenage depression and domestic violence may lie with the abusive males. Previous studies have indicated that depression in adolescent males has been associated with a greater tendency toward violent outbursts and unregulated aggression later in life. In the current study, researchers hypothesize that female teenage depression sufferers may simply gravitate toward male partners who share their symptoms, unwittingly setting themselves up for a future devastated by the trauma of domestic abuse.



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