Prevalence of child depression in Neiva (Colombia)

The aim of this study is to identify the prevalence of depression symptoms and socio-demographical characteristics among boys and girls with depression symptoms with ages ranged 8 to 11 that attend primary school in Neiva (Colombia). A probabilistic sampling by clusters was made with 95% of reliability. The sampling units are school grades from public and private sector. This sample is formed by 63 sampling groups distributed in a random for a total of 1832 subjects. The measurement instrument is the Kovacs’ Children Depression Inventory (CDI) adapted version to the Spanish population by Victoria Del Barrio. The results show a prevalence of 17.09%, the highest number ever reported in Colombia; most of the cases are found in younger children, which is a different fi nding with respect to other studies. A low socio-demographical status is proper of the most of children with depression symptoms.