Children and adolescents attempting to participate in a worldwide online depression screener

• Published in: Psychiatry research Vol. 291; p. 113250
• Main Authors: Stephens, Taylor N., Tran, Michelle M., Bunge, Eduardo L., Liu, Nancy H., Barakat, Suzanne, Garza, Monica, Leykin, Yan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ireland Elsevier B.V 01-09-2020
• Subjects: Adolescent; Child; Depression; Depression - diagnosis; Depression - epidemiology; Depression - psychology; Female; Global Health - trends; Humans; Internet - trends; Male; Mass Screening - methods; Mass Screening - trends; Online; Youth; Online; Depression; Youth
• ISSN: 0165-1781; 1872-7123
• DOI: 10.1016/j.psychres.2020.113250

•30,396 minors, or 19.2% of all visitors, tried to enter depression screening site.•Proportion of minors differed markedly between 190 countries represented.•Minors as young as 10 are using internet for mental health information.
Depression rates are increasing among minors. Internet is central to the lives of many minors, and many of them look online for depression information. This report describes minors who attempted to screen themselves for depression in a worldwide online study. Google Ads were used to recruit individuals to a multilingual depression screening study that was meant to target and recruit adults. Of 158,170 individuals accessing the site, 30,396 (19.22%) were minors from 190 countries. Proportions of minors varied considerably between different cultures. Given youth's interest in depression information, online services to ethically and effectively address youth depression are needed.