Frequency of Depression in Young Generation and Mothers-Fathers

Objective: This study was planned in order to determine the frequency of depression among the individuals who constitute the younger generation as well as their parents. Methods: The universe of the study consists of the younger generation and their parents in Turkey. The sample consisted of students studying at Erzincan Binali Yildirim University Faculty of Health Sciences, their friends, cousins, relatives and their parents. The data were collected from 814 family (total of 2442 people, including 814 young individuals, 814 mothers and 814 fathers). During the final week of the fall semester, the personal information form and the Beck Depression Scale were distributed to the students, and 2 weeks were given. Each young person who went home was asked to fill in the forms separately from his mother and father. The young individual was asked to have their friends/cousins/relatives and their parents do the same. The data obtained were evaluated with SPSS package program. Results: The mean age of the young individuals was 20.40 +/- 1.79, mothers was 46.65 +/- 6.00 and fathers was 50.77 +/- 5.87. When the mean depression scores were examined, it was found that the young individuals had 10.63 +/- 8.12 points, their mothers had 11.88 +/- 7.68 points and the fathers had 9.50 +/- 6.69 points. In addition, as a result of the correlation analysis between the mean depression scores of the adolescents and their parents, a significant positive relationship was found (P =.000). Conclusion: It was concluded that the adolescents, their mothers, and fathers had mild depression.