Level of Depression among Adolescents with Special Needs

Abstract

The study was conducted to explore the level of depression among adolescents with special needs. A sample of 150 adolescents with special needs was randomly selected from the three tehsils of district Toba Tek Singh (Tehsil Toba Tek Singh, Tehsil Gojra and Tehsil Kamalia). 50 adolescents with special needs were selected from each tehsil. It was hypothesized that adolescents with special needs exhibit high and low level of depression psychologically, behaviourally and physically. To find out the level of depression among adolescents with special needs, Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II) was used. BDI is a 21-item self-report measure of the cognitive, affective, and somatic dimensions of depression.  Each item contains four statements, ranging from no indication of depression (I am not feeling sad) to extreme feeling of depression (I am so sad or unhappy that I can’t stand it). Items sum to a total score that can range from 0 to 63. The symptoms in the inventory are divided into mood, thought, motivational and physical sets. The mean BDI scores for the minimal, mild, moderate and severe classifications are 10.9 (SD= 8.1), 18.7 (SD= 10.2), 25.4 (SD= 9.6), and 30.0 (SD= 10.4), respectively. The findings of the study depicted that adolescents with special needs had low level of depression psychologically (M=5.59, SD 6.7), behaviorally (4.59, SD 4.55), and physically (4.20 with SD 4.37). Almost half of the respondents (49%) had minimal level of depression, 34% had mild, 13% had moderate, and 4% respondents had severe level of depression.