WHAT IS THE NEGATIVE IMPACT OF DEPRESSION ON YOUTH

BY ISHA SHARMA

Isha sharma 12CAFS5/Mr. Yousef 18/12/18

Contents ContentsAbstract.................................................................................................................................................3

introduction...........................................................................................................................................4

Literature review...................................................................................................................................6

Literature review 1............................................................................................................................6

Literature review 2............................................................................................................................8

Literature review 3..........................................................................................................................10

Literature review 4..........................................................................................................................12

Literature review 5..........................................................................................................................14

Methodologies....................................................................................................................................15

Results.................................................................................................................................................17

Analysis and discussion........................................................................................................................21

Summary and conclusions...................................................................................................................24

Bibliography.........................................................................................................................................25

Appendix.............................................................................................................................................26

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Acknowledgement

I would like to thank the following people and website for being a positive

impact on the completion of my independent research project. Without their

assistance, my IRP would not been accomplished

Mr. Youssef

for the endless support, encouragement and assisting m to stay the course and

checking my work to guide me in the correct direction.

People who respondent my survey

For doing my survey without undertaking my survey, I would not have any

result and finding and perspective on what is the negative impact of depression

on youth. This process was crucial and gave me an extensive amount of

information. And allowing their valuable time for completing survey

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Abstract The focus question for my IRP is ‘what is the negative impact of depression on

youth?’ in this topic I observed at how depression has affected many parts of a

young person life and how it can affect their physical, emotional and social

wellbeing. Depression is a word is repeatedly been used in my research. The

number of people selected to participate in a research project important.

I have used a variety of primary and secondary research methodologies when

conducting this IRP. A large amount of background knowledge was acquired

through research on websites and newspaper articles, the primary

methodologies used included questionnaire and interview. The secondary

methodologies involved a literature review and further research from newspaper

articles and government reports. I find out my survey, interview and lecture

review that majority of people have said that depression has been increased in

today life.

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introduction

Depression is one of the major issues faced by the youth. Depression is a

common and serious mental illness has negatively affected how an individual

feel, the way individual think and how individual act. Depression has caused

youth to feel sad or a loss of interest in activities once enjoyed. It can lead to a

variety of emotional and physical problems and can decrease a person’s ability

to function at work/school or at home.

My question is what the negative impact of depression on youth I have chosen

this topic because I think depression has increased a lot in are young community

and I want to know that how can we decrease it and how does it effect a young

person well-being. This topic is related to the preliminary course groups and

individuals and in HSC content group in context.

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The aim of this IRP was to discover what is the negative impact for depression

on youth Identify youth’s knowledge of depression and how they perceive

depression, Research adolescent’s knowledge of the main causes of depression,

Research what symptoms of depression that adolescents are aware of. 

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Literature review Literature review 1

Title of the article

Youth self-harm, suicide & depression rates ‘confronting’

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Date (day, month, year)

7 August 2015Author

James MurphyPublisher/place of publishing

Government of Australia Source Case studySummary of the article This article shows the how has self-harm, suicide and depression rates increased

youth in the past decade. it is also showing the real picture of mental health

among teenagers. This research was aimed to identify some of the causes of

self-harm, suicide and depression in Australia they did this by surveying over

6300 families and youths aged 14-17around Australia.

Relevance to research topicIt shows how depression is a real issue faced by youth. Positive and negative aspects

Positive aspects the number of young Australians seeking help doubled compared with 15 years 

ago, and positive activities such as sports,

exercise and healthy eating are now beating alcohol,

drugs and smoking as the ideal way to handle mental health issues for most of

the youth.

Negative aspects

- self-harm, suicide and depression rates increased among youth

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- Depression is Confronting sad and shocking

Relevant quotes/statistics to support research - One third of children & adolescents with mental disorders used support

services in 1998 vs two-thirds today.

- One in five (22%) 13-17-year-old used internet services to find out more

about mental health.

- Stigma and poor awareness of mental health issues were identified as the

main issues for teenagers 13-17 with major depressive disorder not seeking

help for further support.

- Males (16.3%) more likely than females (11.5%) to have experienced a

mental health issue overall.

- ADHD was the most common of mental disorders (7.4%, equivalent of

298,000 youth), followed by anxiety disorders (6.9%, equivalent of 278,000

youth), major depressive disorder (2.8%, equivalent of 112,000 youth) and

conduct disorder (2.1%, equivalent of 83,600 youth).

- One in five teenage girls aged 16-17 found to meet clinical criteria for

major depressive disorder.

Literature review 2 Title of the article

Depression in teenagers Date (day, month, years)

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January 2018Author

Black Dog Institute  (Depression in adolescents & young people)Source

Article Publisher/place of publisher

health directSummary of information

this article tells us about what some key terms about depression among youth,

sign or symptoms of depression on youth are like becoming socially with

drawn falling in their performance at school engaging in risk-taking

behaviour. Where can teenagers can get helps from.

Relevance to research

It tells what some causes and sign of depression Positive and negative aspects

Positive

It tells us where you can get helps from

NegativeIt can be hard to distinguish adolescent turmoil from depressive illness,

especially as the young person is also forging new roles within the family and

struggling with independence, and academic and career decisions.

Relevant quotes/statistics to support research

Depression in this age group should be taken seriously. Youth suicide is the

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leading cause of death in this age group.

An adolescent who is depressed may not show obvious signs of depression.

Instead, they may start to behave uncharacteristically

Literature review 3

Title of the article Depression in young peopleDate (day, month, years)

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February 2017Author

Unknown Source

Internet Publisher/place of publisher

Better health channel Summary of information

Young people can feel sad and worried about life events such as exams, fights with family or friends, changing schools or moving house.

If the feelings of sadness go on for weeks or months and affect everyday life, the young person may have depression.

Symptoms of depression in young people include feeling grumpy, having trouble sleeping, feeling worthless or guilty, eating more or less than usualand gaining or losing weight.

Life situations can contribute to depression in young people but sometimes there seems to be no reason.

Encourage young people to talk about how they feel with someone they know and trust such as a parent, teacher, school counsellor, family memberor friend.

An important next step is for the young person to visit a doctor to learn about depression and how it is treated.

Relevance to research topicIt tells us what the cause, signs and negative impact about depression.

Positive and negative aspects

Positive It shows the Treatment for depression in youth Where they can get help

Negative

Depression is one of the major risk factors for suicide and self-harm.

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Relevant quotes/ statistics to support research

“Many different factors and life circumstances can contribute to anxiety and depression in young people. These can include: fights with family or friends, changing schools or starting secondary school, being bullied, experiencing a relationship break-up, recent death, abuse or neglect.”

“Sometimes there are no obvious symptoms of depression, but parents may notice behavioural changes in young people that suggest depression and should not be ignored”

Literature review 4

Title of the article Teen Depression and Anxiety: Why the Kids Are Not Alright

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Date (day, month, years)

Oct 27, 2016Author

Susanna Schrobsdorff

Source

Article Publisher/place of publisher

TIMESummary of information

anxiety and depression in high school kids have been on the rise since 2012 after several years of stability.

For Faith-Ann, cutting was a secret, compulsive manifestation of the depression and anxiety that she and millions of teenagers in the U.S. are struggling with.

The first time Faith-Ann Bishop cut herself, she was in eighth grade.

Sometimes she'd throw up, other times she'd stay home.

On paper, she had a good life.

Experts suspect that these statistics are on the low end of what's really happening, since many people do not seek help for anxiety and depression.

Relevance to research topicThis is an example of a young girl going through depression and how is this negatively impacting her. Positive and negative aspects Positive It tells us about a person what are the symptoms and how can the effects someone’s familyNegative It doesn’t say hat are the impact ?

Relevant quotes/ statistics to support research “We're the first generation that cannot escape our problems at all," says Faith-Ann. "We're all like little volcanoes. We're getting this constant pressure,

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from our phones, from our relationships, from the way things are today."

Literature review 5

Title of the article Depression rising among adolescents, young adults

Date (day, month, years)

JAN 09 2017

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Author

By Gabriela Cora, MD, DFAPA, MHA, MBASource

Internet Publisher/place of publisher

Antea Summary of information This article it tells us that the history of depression, how has depression among youth are increased in to today live and what parents need to be worried about. Relevance to research topicIt shows how depression has increased in youth Positive and negative aspects Positive Tells us from someone perspective who has been through depression Negative It doesn’t tell us what depression means.

Relevant quotes/ statistics to support research I call these the four pillars of health, which include nutrition, exercise, relaxation and sleep. Healthy food will help us fuel our biological needs from the get-go. With the right nutrition, we can then have the energy we need for our activities, including intellectual and physical such as exercise.The most important intervention to help your child if you have concerns about their mental health is to learn and understand the warning signs of depression in children and adolescents. While many of us may attribute a teen’s opposition to simply being a teen, it may be helpful to see if they are struggling more than what we see on the surface.

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Methodologies

A range of primary and secondary research methodologies were used when

conducting this IRP. Huge amount of background information was attaining

through research on websites and newspaper articles, primary methodologies

used to include questionnaires and a private interview. The secondary

methodologies involved a lecture review and further research from newspaper

articles a government report.

The primary data was gathered through a mainly quantitative questionnaire and

private interviews. The sampling method was used random sample involves

selecting people from different groups that everyone that every has an equal

chance of being selected, the participants were youth people who were aged

16+.

As part of my secondary research, the literature review was based on written

information in the case study by the government of Australia “Youth self-

harm, suicide & depression rates ‘confronting” published by James Murphy

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Several ethical issues needed to be addressed while conducting primary research

for the IRP. The main issue was privacy, which was addressed using

anonymous questionnaires and interview. The questionnaire was structured to

avoid bias by not asking leading question that were designed to get an answer

from the participants.

The methodologies that I’m be not using is observation because it takes a lot of

time to analysis and I will not work for my topic because I cannot observe or

assume a person is in depression.

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Results What is your gender?

My questionnaire was received back to me from 40 females and 10 males. I tried to get an equal number of respondents from each gender to give an accurate representation of the population.

What is your age?

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In my questionnaire I gave three options for the respondents to choose from they were 16,17 and 18+ respondent. For 16 I got 9 response, for 17 I got 18 responses and for 18+ I got 23 responses.

What do you think depression means?

Mostly people think depression means longs term sadness or it’s a disease.

Do you think depression has increased in youth?

41 people said yes,8 people said unsure and 1 person said no that depression has been increased.

What do you believe main cause of depression among youth?

70% people said stress from school is the main cause of depression.

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What are some symptoms of depression that you are aware of?

38(76%) of people says that sad, anxious, or empty feeling is most common symptoms of depression.

What would you do if your friends show signs of depression?

mostly people well do something about it like talk to them and Suggest a support service they could access if their friends are in depression. Few people will do nothing.

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What do you think is the effect of depression on youth?

the most common effect of depression is suicide/self-harm.

Have you ever had depression?

Most respondent said “no” that they do not have depression

If yes, what caused it?

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Analysis and discussion

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In this topic, I looked at how depression affects mays part of youth life and how

it can affect their physical, emotional, and social wellbeing. In my research I

looked at what depression really means and whether it is an overused term in

the society today, which was supported by my primary research being my

questionnaire and depression in youth today which showed me the that it had

increased in the past decade, I found this through the research of my secondary

data. I think depression is on the increase because of the increasing stresses put

onto youths such as school and work, as well as people is doing less and less

outdoor activities and instead of staying indoors and playing computer games

which are having a negative impact on physical health as well as decreasing

social interaction. I found that this was true from both my primary data and

secondary data as previous people have found the same results as myself.

Emotional and intellectual health can also suffer because it is not a disease that

can be treated or fixed quickly, I also found this to be true through both primary

and secondary data but not as much in my primary as I did not include enough

questions on the subject in my questionnaire.

Physical, emotional, and intellectual wellbeing – These are all affected by

depression as it can lead to self-harm or suicide which was found in both

primary and secondary data, and can make people socialise less, and make them

lose their motivation to do things that they would normally enjoy and make

them lose motivation to extend themselves by participating in educational

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activities and/or work, which was not supported by my primary research

because I did not include relevant questions on the subject.

I have ground out through my secondary and primary research that depression

has been increased and the main cause for this is the higher expectations of

youth to succeed in the society and other causes can be are: stress from school

and/or work, stress from family and peers, poor diet, drugs, genes etc.

My secondary data supported most of my primary data in the way that they both

told me the same things except for my question as to whether the term

depression was an over-used term, which I could not find a direct answer to at

all, which I thought was surprising as there is an unbelievable amount of

secondary information available on the subject of depression, however a lot of

the information found from different sources is the same as each other, which

proved to be quite time consuming to try and find different information.

This study of depression has shown me that depression is on the increase in

youth and this could have many negative impacts on society such as a lack of

skilled workers because patients often lose motivation to learn or work as well

as the building of the disease because if people with depression do not socialise,

then there may be less people to socialise with, which could in turn make more

people depressed, which would just make the problem grow. So, something

needs to be done about it. I think that people should be persuaded not to place

so much pressure on youths in particular teachers and parents, I feel that this

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could be done through the use of the media and the schooling system, I also

found through my primary research that youths are afraid of seeking formal help

such as support services or counsellor’s, this could be changed by regular

contact with some of these services for those children who are showing some

signs of depression as well as contact for other students to build a sense of

comfort with these services.

Summary and conclusions 25 | P a g e

Throughout this independent research project, I have found the that depression

is Having a mental condition in which the individual is not able to produce the

necessary enzymes that allow "Happiness" and I have also discovered that

depression increased a lot in the past decade. the main cause is being society’s

increased expectations of youth to succeed, but there are many other things that

cause depression, some of these things include: stress from school and/or work

and family, poor diet, peer acceptance, drugs, genes and many, many more. I

have also found that most people will talk to them if their friends are going

through depression rather that telling their parents

Depression can have a negative impact on youth in many ways, which include

their education, work outside of school, physical, emotional, and intellectual

wellbeing, security, self-esteem, safety and sense of identity.

Bibliography

Department of Health - Youth self-harm, suicide & depression rates ‘confronting’: Ley. 2018. Department of Health - Youth self-harm, suicide &

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depression rates ‘confronting’: Ley. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.health.gov.au/internet/ministers/publishing.nsf/Content/health-mediarel-yr2015-ley096.htm. [Accessed 14 December 2018].

Depression in teenagers | health direct. 2018. Depression in teenagers | health direct. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/depression-in-teenagers. [Accessed 14 December 2018].

Depression explained - Better Health Channel. 2018. Depression explained - Better Health Channel. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/conditionsandtreatments/depression. [Accessed 14 December 2018].

Depression in young people - Better Health Channel. 2018. Depression in young people - Better Health Channel. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/conditionsandtreatments/Depression-in-young-people. [Accessed 14 December 2018].

Time. 2018. | Time. [ONLINE] Available at: http://time.com/4547322/american-teens-anxious-depressed-overwhelmed/. [Accessed 14 December 2018].

Depression rising among adolescents, young adults the Health Section https://news.aetna.com/2017/01/depression-rising-among-adolescents-young-adults/

Appendix Appendix 1(surveys)

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1. Gender * Female Male Unspecified Prefer Not Saying Other:

2. Age * 16 17 18+

3. What do you think depression means? *

_____________________________

4. Do you think depression has increased in youth ? *o Yeso Noo Unsure

5. What do you believe main cause of depression among youth? * Stress for school Being bullied Changing schools Peer pressure Loss of loved ones Genetic/biology Other:

6. What are some symptoms of depression that you are aware of? * Loss of appetite and eating disorders Can't concentrate enough Insomnia/hypersomnia (sleeping problems) Sad, anxious, or empty feelings Thoughts of attempting suicide

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Loss of interest in daily activities Other:

7. What would you do if your friends show signs of depression? * Notify their parents Talk to them Tell the counsellor or teacher Seek help from a friend Suggest a support service they could access Do nothing Other:

8. What do you think is the effect of depression on youth? *___________________________________

9. Have you ever had depression? *o Yeso Noo Maybe

10.If yes, what caused it?_________________

Appendix2 (interview)

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My name is Isha sharma and I’m currently involved in an Independent Research Project for the HSC course Community and Family Studies. This interview aims to investigate the “Effects of depression on youths”.

What does depression mean to you?

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Have you ever experienced depression?

YES                 NO

What are some sign/symptoms of depression you see in students?_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

How does depression effect on a young person’s well-being?

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

What kind of help is available for a person experiencing depression?

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Do you think the word “depression” is being overused?_________________________________________________________________________

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