Depression and its relation with demographic indicators in Bam high school students

BackgroundRegarding to the plenty natural disasters, there are few studies about depression prevalence after disaster in Iran as there are some contradictory reports and various studies in different countries. This paper aims to determine the relation of depression prevalence and demographic indicators in high school students in Bam in 2003.Methods In this cross-sectional research, about 427 students of Bam were surveyed by using Beck questionnaire (with personal qualifications) and SPSS-11.Findings More than 60 percent of students were female; the responders were 14 to18 years old and 74.2 percent had different level of depression. The research shows that there was a meaningful relation between depression, gender, losing or physical disability of one of the family members in the earthquake and life satisfaction (p<0.05). In other hand, there was not any meaningful relation between depression rate, age and their residential building collapse during an earthquake. ConclusionAt the end, it is necessary to have a comprehensive planning about mental health regarding to high depression in high school in Bam after natural and man-made disasters.