Penn State Study Finds School-Based Mental Health Screening Can Help Identify Depression In Students – CBS Philly

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (CBS) — A Penn State study shows that a school-based mental health screening can help identify depression in college students. Researchers from the university’s College of Medicine found that students who participated in universal school-based depression screening were twice as likely to initiate treatment for depression.

dr. Deepa Sekhar, an associate professor of pediatrics who served as a researcher on the study, said the study offers important insights into how to tackle depression in young people.

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“Our study is published at a time when more adolescents are reporting symptoms of depression,” Sekhar said in a press release. “From 2008 to 2018, numbers increased by more than 70% from 8.3% to 14.4%. During the pandemic, concerns about rising depression among students were widespread. Suicides, which are often associated with mental illness, are now the second leading cause of death in adolescents.”

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The three-year study involved more than 12.00 students in the 9th through 12th grades of 14 public high schools in Pennsylvania, according to Sekhar.

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More adolescents report symptoms of depression and suicide is the second leading cause of death in adolescents.