Childhood Depression Research Paper
Childhood Depression: A Preventable Situation
The National Survey on Drug Use and Health performed by SAMHSA in 2004 shows that in some areas as much as 10% of the overall population of the United States suffers from depression, and while depression can be caused by many things there is a segment of the population in which depression starts in their school years, and continues throughout their lives. This is a tragedy, however the larger tragedy is that this depression in most cases it is actually possible to avoid but it continues to occur due to misunderstandings of the cause.
In the past few years with the increased interest in mental health there has been a focus on improving the general mental wellbeing of students. While an admirable …show more content…
goal, there has been a group of students who are continuously disenfranchised by the system; our society continuously fails to provide them with a safe place to study, and those who work to assist these students are also often on the receiving end of verbal abuse and sometimes even physical violence. The concern behind such a situation, is that depression caused in childhood often extends into adulthood (Russell, Ryan and Toomey), but this is entirely preventable. SAMHSA performs studies nationwide each year regarding many different factors, primarily related to drug usage, and the statistics from 2006 through 2012 (SAMHSA) show a steady decline in incidents of major depressive episodes (MDEs). An MDE is defined as having five or more incidents of 9 potential symptoms of depression within a two week period, the symptoms of depression cover a wide range of symptoms from the extreme including such things as drastic weight loss, to the relatively minor symptoms including decreased energy (Woliver). In a lot of cases, these symptoms are unrecognized as coming from depression, even more so when so much information about depression is geared towards an explanation of so-called “adult” depression, as the symptomology between adult and teen depression has overlaps, but is often behaviorally different.
There are many different causes for depression from the biological, there are specific brain chemistry situations that are directly linked to chronic depression, to the social; the former are treatable in most cases with medications, combined with therapy, but the latter need not occur. It is these latter causes that we have started to see decline in the past decade, specifically the incidence of discrimination, assault (verbal and physical), and generalized hurtful statements have declined in the past decade (M. M. Joseph G. Kosciw). In fact, it is due to organizations such as the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network (GLSEN) that we have not only learnt so much about some of the causes of this depression, but how easily it is for society to actually resolve these issues. In 2002 GLSEN reported “that youth were often uncomfortable in their schools because of their sexual orientation or gender identity or expression” (M. M. Joseph G. Kosciw), this means that a segment of our community was being treated extremely unfairly due to just existing! Thankfully though, there has been an effort to educate those that protect and teach our children, and the dividends are paying off, in the 2012 GLSEN report, Eliza Byard reports “Reviewing these charts, graphs, numbers, and percentages, I had one primary, overwhelming thought: We are making a difference! How often does one get to see the evidence of change in progress?” (Joseph G. Kosciw, Emily A. Greytak and Mark J. Bartkiewicz).
However, in sections of this country, even in this state, there is still confusion as to the legal rights of school children. The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 explicitly states:
The purpose of this title is to ensure that all children have a fair, equal, and significant opportunity to obtain a high-quality education and reach, at a minimum, proficiency on challenging State academic achievement standards and state academic assessments. (Congress)
The act then proceeds to go into specific details of how the United States Federal Government intends to allow this to occur, but the key, often overlooked, wording is “fair, equal”, almost all states treat students who are Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersexed, or gender-Queer (GLBTIQ), as not needing the protections and rights of any other student! California recently passed a law, AB1266, that provides students who are transgender access to the spaces and programs for their gender, yet recently the De Anza campus had people on campus collecting signatures for a petition to repeal that law! These people are suggesting that people should be identified by their skin, and not treating them as valuable human beings because of that skin, but as freaks, the country has already repealed the laws for segregation due to skin color, and not only because it isn’t a humane way to treat people, but also because it was proven to actually be harmful to the mental health of the individuals affected by that segregation (Aronson). In a study performed by Stacey Horn at the University of Illinois, there was ample evidence that even the students not directly involved in the action against GLBTIQ students were also affected by these sort of occurrences (Horn, Szalacha and Drill), the students would differentiate between the rights of others to have a safe schooling environment, no matter their real or perceived inclusion in any groups, and their opinions about some of those groupings. The issue with this differentiation is how this affects their ability to treat others with respect later in life, the students, as they have already accepted a little discrimination against their fellow students are provided with the groundwork to later perform much greater discrimination to others (Aronson).
All of these issues are compounded by the fact that those teachers, parents and members of the community who wish to help students affected by real, or perceived, membership in the GLBT community are often unable, or unwilling to help due to potential risk and harm they themselves would be in. In the 2009 Journal of Community Psychology, an article was presented that investigated the reasons why student advisors would become involved in Gay-Straight Alliance “clubs” in schools in the Midwest of the United States, the analysis of the reasons leads one directly to an understanding that, at the time, advisors would get involved in such groups in spite of the potential personal issues that can affect relationships and standing in the community, because in most cases the advisors felt strongly enough about reducing the discrimination that they felt they had to do something (Valenti and Campbell). From my own small sample survey performed via an anonymous online system, even with the small number of responses I obtained, it is clear that the situation still stands, advisors are getting involved because they want what is best for the students, not what might be seen as best for the advisor (Anonymous).
There is also a belief that discrimination is not of concern when if it isn’t about skin color, or some obvious physical trait, but all types of discrimination and hateful language harms someone. And no matter what, all types of discrimination lead to making someone feel unworthy, which is just the start of greater forms of depression, which defeats the current interest in improving student health.
Clearly much needs to be done to improve the basic situation for these students, as the depression caused them in childhood can continue throughout well into their adult lives, assuming they do not succumb to any depression-related events prior to reaching adulthood, and yet this is a situation that easily can, and should, be avoided. As we can resolve many lifelong depression issues that are not physiological that are caused in school, it behooves us as a society to actually make those changes, and support those who are making those changes, for the betterment of our society overall. While some might have issues with the example I have used for a cause of childhood, and adult, depression, the fact is that we are all affected by any situation that causes depression, especially when implicitly approved by society as the treatment of GLBTIQ students is.
Annotated Bibliography
Anonymous.
GSA/GLBTIQA Club Advisor Survey Cassandra Brockett. 29 November 2013. Web.
This work is a minor extension to the journal article authored by Maria Valenti and Rebecca Campbell, responses where collected from three states with five respondents overall. The survey was performed by an online poll in the majority of cases, though a single response was taken by providing the respondent with a printed version of the online form with them filling it out. As this is an extension of prior work, the only concern is related to the honesty of the respondents, which is why the survey responses were accepted anonymously.
Aronson, Elliot. The Social Animal. New York: Worth Publishers, 2011. Print.
Aronson is considered one of the foremost authors in social psychology, his book “The Social Animal” is now in its 11th Edition, is constantly updated as new research and information comes to light, and is lauded as one of the premier works on social psychology. From the first page, this book covers all related topics of the research paper, but primary focus is on the explanations of research performed on social cognition, prejudice, conformity and cognitive dissonance. Our modern understanding of the causes of such matters are clearly described in this work by …show more content…
Aronson.
Congress, 107th. "govtrack.us." 21 December 2001. H.R. 1 (107th): No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Web. 29 November 2013.
The authors of this article are fairly well understood, as are their credentials, they are the United States congress. This document is the full text source of the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. The text of the Act not only explains its intended purpose, but also details many methods of working to resolve the concerns listed.
Horn, Stacey S., Laura A. Szalacha and Karen. Drill. "Schooling, Sexuality, And Rights: An Investigation Of Heterosexual Students ' Social Cognition Regarding Sexual Orientation And The Rights Of Gay And Lesbian Peers In School." Journal Of Social Issues 64.4 (2008): 791-813. ArticleFirst. Web. 18 October 2013.
The authors of this article from University of Illinois at Chicago at the time of the article, Stacey Horn was a professor of Educational and Developmental Psychology, Laura Szalacha was a Research Assistant Professor from the College of Nursing, and Karen Drill was a doctoral student at the Department of Educational Psychology, all three have had experience dealing with GLBT youth at various levels, and had noticed a discrepancy between the beliefs of the educators and their own experiences. This article was analysis of research performed to discover what the beliefs of those students who did not identify with the GLBTIQ community were in regard to the GLBT youth. The final analysis shows that contrary to the concerns that some express, the school system is not forcing students to take a stance of fully accepting, even though federal law states safety and protection from discrimination is required for all students.
Joseph G. Kosciw, M.A., M.S. Ed. The 2001 National School Climate Survey: The School Related Experiences of our Nations Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Youth. New York: GLSEN, 2002. PDF File. 7 November 2013.
The Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network has been performing surveys of issues affecting GLBT students since 1999. The surveys have been performed in two primary manners, first through contacts at GLBT service organizations, also GLSEN posted the survey on their website to collect truly anonymous data, from these two sources they compiled the information in the report and give a fairly damning report on the impact the school environment has on GLBT youth. It is hard for those with no direct access to the GLBTIQ community to understand exactly how widespread the issues affecting the community are, and how it starts well before most members of the community even become sexually active.
Joseph G. Kosciw, Ph.D., et al. The 2011 National School Climate Survey: The experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth in our nation’s schools. New York: GLSEN, 2012. PDF File. 6 November 2013.
The Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network has been performing surveys of issues affecting GLBT students since 1999. During the years since the 2001 study the research staff has expanded from a single Masters-level researcher, to an entire team including the original researcher (now with a Ph.D), a second Ph.D researcher (Emily A. Greytalk), and three Masters-level researchers, the 2011 report, in comparison to the 2001 report, has a wider range of talent to draw upon for data acquisition, data compilation, and also explanation of the data. As before, the survey was performed in two primary manners, first through contacts at GLBT service organizations, and secondly via the GLSEN website, from these two sources they compiled the information in the report to explain the impact the school environment has on GLBT youth. The report details how much improvement has happened in the past 10 years, and that even if there is still a lot to be improved, the situation is actually improving.
Russell, Stephen T., et al.
"Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Adolescent School Victimization: Implications for Young Adult Health and Adjustment." Journal of School Health (2011): 223-230. Wiley Online Library. Web. 18 October 2013.
The authors of this article are respected members of the APA, with experience working with members of the GLBTIQ community. The papers specific focus was to assess the long-term health (psychological and physiological) impact of LGBT students being victimized during school years. The conclusions of the paper is that there are far reaching, long term effects from this victimization, and calls for major improvements in the education systems around the country to reduce all such victimization. These results can be paralleled with any sort of school victimization and the long term implications
thereof.
SAMHSA. National Survey on Drug Use and Health. n.d. Web. 09 November 2013.
The researchers for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, have compiled statistics regarding a wide range of topics directly related to the mental health of the country wide population. These statistics have been gathered over many years, and show a downward trend in the prevalence of persons affected by a Major Depressive Episode in the prior twelve months. Direct yearly analysis can be made from 2006 through 2009, however earlier and later year data is given but not directly correlatable. These statistics are based off a general population survey that is performed yearly.
Valenti, Maria and Rebecca Campbell. "Working With Youth On LGBT Issues: Why Gay–Straight Alliance Advisors Become Involved." Journal Of Community Psychology 37.2 (2009): 228-248. ERIC. Web. 7 November 2013.
This article takes a different tack on the matter relating to GLBT youth, and looks at the issues and concerns surrounding those members of faculty that become involved in Gay-Straight Alliances (GSAs) at public high schools. The authors are now both Doctors (Ph.D) of Psychology, though this paper was Valenti’s Master’s thesis. The research performed shows the difficulties inherit in becoming a part of a non-discrimination organization on a high school campus, especially in a region where involvement can easily lead to official censure, public disapproval, or worse. Clearly this makes it even harder for children already disadvantaged by the schooling system to properly engage in school, when those tasked with providing a safe environment for them, are themselves unsafe.
Woliver, Robbie. 20 signs and symptoms of childood/teen depression. 14 September 2010. Web. 27 November 2013.
The author of this is a respected author, journalist, and editor. They have written works on psychological and neurobiological issues related to childhood development, this article was a follow up to a prior article when they explained of the rise of depression rates amongst adolescents and children, and details the specific symptomology parents, guardians, and other adults should look for in terms of childhood depression.
The National Survey on Drug Use and Health performed by SAMHSA in 2004 shows that in some areas as much as 10% of the overall population of the United States suffers from depression, and while depression can be caused by many things there is a segment of the population in which depression starts in their school years, and continues throughout their lives. This is a tragedy, however the larger tragedy is that this depression in most cases it is actually possible to avoid but it continues to occur due to misunderstandings of the cause.
In the past few years with the increased interest in mental health there has been a focus on improving the general mental wellbeing of students. While an admirable …show more content…
goal, there has been a group of students who are continuously disenfranchised by the system; our society continuously fails to provide them with a safe place to study, and those who work to assist these students are also often on the receiving end of verbal abuse and sometimes even physical violence. The concern behind such a situation, is that depression caused in childhood often extends into adulthood (Russell, Ryan and Toomey), but this is entirely preventable. SAMHSA performs studies nationwide each year regarding many different factors, primarily related to drug usage, and the statistics from 2006 through 2012 (SAMHSA) show a steady decline in incidents of major depressive episodes (MDEs). An MDE is defined as having five or more incidents of 9 potential symptoms of depression within a two week period, the symptoms of depression cover a wide range of symptoms from the extreme including such things as drastic weight loss, to the relatively minor symptoms including decreased energy (Woliver). In a lot of cases, these symptoms are unrecognized as coming from depression, even more so when so much information about depression is geared towards an explanation of so-called “adult” depression, as the symptomology between adult and teen depression has overlaps, but is often behaviorally different.
There are many different causes for depression from the biological, there are specific brain chemistry situations that are directly linked to chronic depression, to the social; the former are treatable in most cases with medications, combined with therapy, but the latter need not occur. It is these latter causes that we have started to see decline in the past decade, specifically the incidence of discrimination, assault (verbal and physical), and generalized hurtful statements have declined in the past decade (M. M. Joseph G. Kosciw). In fact, it is due to organizations such as the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network (GLSEN) that we have not only learnt so much about some of the causes of this depression, but how easily it is for society to actually resolve these issues. In 2002 GLSEN reported “that youth were often uncomfortable in their schools because of their sexual orientation or gender identity or expression” (M. M. Joseph G. Kosciw), this means that a segment of our community was being treated extremely unfairly due to just existing! Thankfully though, there has been an effort to educate those that protect and teach our children, and the dividends are paying off, in the 2012 GLSEN report, Eliza Byard reports “Reviewing these charts, graphs, numbers, and percentages, I had one primary, overwhelming thought: We are making a difference! How often does one get to see the evidence of change in progress?” (Joseph G. Kosciw, Emily A. Greytak and Mark J. Bartkiewicz).
However, in sections of this country, even in this state, there is still confusion as to the legal rights of school children. The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 explicitly states:
The purpose of this title is to ensure that all children have a fair, equal, and significant opportunity to obtain a high-quality education and reach, at a minimum, proficiency on challenging State academic achievement standards and state academic assessments. (Congress)
The act then proceeds to go into specific details of how the United States Federal Government intends to allow this to occur, but the key, often overlooked, wording is “fair, equal”, almost all states treat students who are Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersexed, or gender-Queer (GLBTIQ), as not needing the protections and rights of any other student! California recently passed a law, AB1266, that provides students who are transgender access to the spaces and programs for their gender, yet recently the De Anza campus had people on campus collecting signatures for a petition to repeal that law! These people are suggesting that people should be identified by their skin, and not treating them as valuable human beings because of that skin, but as freaks, the country has already repealed the laws for segregation due to skin color, and not only because it isn’t a humane way to treat people, but also because it was proven to actually be harmful to the mental health of the individuals affected by that segregation (Aronson). In a study performed by Stacey Horn at the University of Illinois, there was ample evidence that even the students not directly involved in the action against GLBTIQ students were also affected by these sort of occurrences (Horn, Szalacha and Drill), the students would differentiate between the rights of others to have a safe schooling environment, no matter their real or perceived inclusion in any groups, and their opinions about some of those groupings. The issue with this differentiation is how this affects their ability to treat others with respect later in life, the students, as they have already accepted a little discrimination against their fellow students are provided with the groundwork to later perform much greater discrimination to others (Aronson).
All of these issues are compounded by the fact that those teachers, parents and members of the community who wish to help students affected by real, or perceived, membership in the GLBT community are often unable, or unwilling to help due to potential risk and harm they themselves would be in. In the 2009 Journal of Community Psychology, an article was presented that investigated the reasons why student advisors would become involved in Gay-Straight Alliance “clubs” in schools in the Midwest of the United States, the analysis of the reasons leads one directly to an understanding that, at the time, advisors would get involved in such groups in spite of the potential personal issues that can affect relationships and standing in the community, because in most cases the advisors felt strongly enough about reducing the discrimination that they felt they had to do something (Valenti and Campbell). From my own small sample survey performed via an anonymous online system, even with the small number of responses I obtained, it is clear that the situation still stands, advisors are getting involved because they want what is best for the students, not what might be seen as best for the advisor (Anonymous).
There is also a belief that discrimination is not of concern when if it isn’t about skin color, or some obvious physical trait, but all types of discrimination and hateful language harms someone. And no matter what, all types of discrimination lead to making someone feel unworthy, which is just the start of greater forms of depression, which defeats the current interest in improving student health.
Clearly much needs to be done to improve the basic situation for these students, as the depression caused them in childhood can continue throughout well into their adult lives, assuming they do not succumb to any depression-related events prior to reaching adulthood, and yet this is a situation that easily can, and should, be avoided. As we can resolve many lifelong depression issues that are not physiological that are caused in school, it behooves us as a society to actually make those changes, and support those who are making those changes, for the betterment of our society overall. While some might have issues with the example I have used for a cause of childhood, and adult, depression, the fact is that we are all affected by any situation that causes depression, especially when implicitly approved by society as the treatment of GLBTIQ students is.
Annotated Bibliography
Anonymous.
GSA/GLBTIQA Club Advisor Survey Cassandra Brockett. 29 November 2013. Web.
This work is a minor extension to the journal article authored by Maria Valenti and Rebecca Campbell, responses where collected from three states with five respondents overall. The survey was performed by an online poll in the majority of cases, though a single response was taken by providing the respondent with a printed version of the online form with them filling it out. As this is an extension of prior work, the only concern is related to the honesty of the respondents, which is why the survey responses were accepted anonymously.
Aronson, Elliot. The Social Animal. New York: Worth Publishers, 2011. Print.
Aronson is considered one of the foremost authors in social psychology, his book “The Social Animal” is now in its 11th Edition, is constantly updated as new research and information comes to light, and is lauded as one of the premier works on social psychology. From the first page, this book covers all related topics of the research paper, but primary focus is on the explanations of research performed on social cognition, prejudice, conformity and cognitive dissonance. Our modern understanding of the causes of such matters are clearly described in this work by …show more content…
Aronson.
Congress, 107th. "govtrack.us." 21 December 2001. H.R. 1 (107th): No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Web. 29 November 2013.
The authors of this article are fairly well understood, as are their credentials, they are the United States congress. This document is the full text source of the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. The text of the Act not only explains its intended purpose, but also details many methods of working to resolve the concerns listed.
Horn, Stacey S., Laura A. Szalacha and Karen. Drill. "Schooling, Sexuality, And Rights: An Investigation Of Heterosexual Students ' Social Cognition Regarding Sexual Orientation And The Rights Of Gay And Lesbian Peers In School." Journal Of Social Issues 64.4 (2008): 791-813. ArticleFirst. Web. 18 October 2013.
The authors of this article from University of Illinois at Chicago at the time of the article, Stacey Horn was a professor of Educational and Developmental Psychology, Laura Szalacha was a Research Assistant Professor from the College of Nursing, and Karen Drill was a doctoral student at the Department of Educational Psychology, all three have had experience dealing with GLBT youth at various levels, and had noticed a discrepancy between the beliefs of the educators and their own experiences. This article was analysis of research performed to discover what the beliefs of those students who did not identify with the GLBTIQ community were in regard to the GLBT youth. The final analysis shows that contrary to the concerns that some express, the school system is not forcing students to take a stance of fully accepting, even though federal law states safety and protection from discrimination is required for all students.
Joseph G. Kosciw, M.A., M.S. Ed. The 2001 National School Climate Survey: The School Related Experiences of our Nations Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Youth. New York: GLSEN, 2002. PDF File. 7 November 2013.
The Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network has been performing surveys of issues affecting GLBT students since 1999. The surveys have been performed in two primary manners, first through contacts at GLBT service organizations, also GLSEN posted the survey on their website to collect truly anonymous data, from these two sources they compiled the information in the report and give a fairly damning report on the impact the school environment has on GLBT youth. It is hard for those with no direct access to the GLBTIQ community to understand exactly how widespread the issues affecting the community are, and how it starts well before most members of the community even become sexually active.
Joseph G. Kosciw, Ph.D., et al. The 2011 National School Climate Survey: The experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth in our nation’s schools. New York: GLSEN, 2012. PDF File. 6 November 2013.
The Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network has been performing surveys of issues affecting GLBT students since 1999. During the years since the 2001 study the research staff has expanded from a single Masters-level researcher, to an entire team including the original researcher (now with a Ph.D), a second Ph.D researcher (Emily A. Greytalk), and three Masters-level researchers, the 2011 report, in comparison to the 2001 report, has a wider range of talent to draw upon for data acquisition, data compilation, and also explanation of the data. As before, the survey was performed in two primary manners, first through contacts at GLBT service organizations, and secondly via the GLSEN website, from these two sources they compiled the information in the report to explain the impact the school environment has on GLBT youth. The report details how much improvement has happened in the past 10 years, and that even if there is still a lot to be improved, the situation is actually improving.
Russell, Stephen T., et al.
"Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Adolescent School Victimization: Implications for Young Adult Health and Adjustment." Journal of School Health (2011): 223-230. Wiley Online Library. Web. 18 October 2013.
The authors of this article are respected members of the APA, with experience working with members of the GLBTIQ community. The papers specific focus was to assess the long-term health (psychological and physiological) impact of LGBT students being victimized during school years. The conclusions of the paper is that there are far reaching, long term effects from this victimization, and calls for major improvements in the education systems around the country to reduce all such victimization. These results can be paralleled with any sort of school victimization and the long term implications
thereof.
SAMHSA. National Survey on Drug Use and Health. n.d. Web. 09 November 2013.
The researchers for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, have compiled statistics regarding a wide range of topics directly related to the mental health of the country wide population. These statistics have been gathered over many years, and show a downward trend in the prevalence of persons affected by a Major Depressive Episode in the prior twelve months. Direct yearly analysis can be made from 2006 through 2009, however earlier and later year data is given but not directly correlatable. These statistics are based off a general population survey that is performed yearly.
Valenti, Maria and Rebecca Campbell. "Working With Youth On LGBT Issues: Why Gay–Straight Alliance Advisors Become Involved." Journal Of Community Psychology 37.2 (2009): 228-248. ERIC. Web. 7 November 2013.
This article takes a different tack on the matter relating to GLBT youth, and looks at the issues and concerns surrounding those members of faculty that become involved in Gay-Straight Alliances (GSAs) at public high schools. The authors are now both Doctors (Ph.D) of Psychology, though this paper was Valenti’s Master’s thesis. The research performed shows the difficulties inherit in becoming a part of a non-discrimination organization on a high school campus, especially in a region where involvement can easily lead to official censure, public disapproval, or worse. Clearly this makes it even harder for children already disadvantaged by the schooling system to properly engage in school, when those tasked with providing a safe environment for them, are themselves unsafe.
Woliver, Robbie. 20 signs and symptoms of childood/teen depression. 14 September 2010. Web. 27 November 2013.
The author of this is a respected author, journalist, and editor. They have written works on psychological and neurobiological issues related to childhood development, this article was a follow up to a prior article when they explained of the rise of depression rates amongst adolescents and children, and details the specific symptomology parents, guardians, and other adults should look for in terms of childhood depression.