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Depression among adolescents is a growing concern worldwide, including in Bangladesh. This study aimed to investigate depression and its associated factors among college-going adolescents in Bangladesh. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 1919 college-going adolescents through a Google-based questionnaire covering all administrative divisions of Bangladesh. Respondents' socio-demographic information was collected, and the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) was used to assess depression. Different statistical analyses, including descriptive statistics, Chi-square test, and multinomial logistic regression, were performed to analyze the data. The results showed that a majority of the adolescents (65.5%) were female and identified as Muslim (92.0%). The average age was 17.5 years, with 33.9% reporting pre-marital relationships and 10.7% engaging in daily exercise. Alarmingly, over 80% of college-going adolescents experienced moderate to severe depression (24.3% moderate; 29.1% moderately severe, and 26.8% severe). Factors including gender, social media use, physical exercise, pre-marital relationships, religious practices, experiences of blackmail, and major physical illnesses have significant association (p<0.001) with the increased risk of depression among college-going adolescents in Bangladesh. The multinomial logistic regression analysis found female adolescents, social media users, those not engaged in regular exercise, individuals in pre-marital relationships, non-practitioners of religion, victims of blackmail, and those with major physical illnesses had the higher odds of experiencing moderate to severe depression. The high depression level among Bangladeshi college-going adolescents underscores the urgent need for targeted mental health intervention to address associated risk factors and promote the well-being of college-going adolescents in Bangladesh.
Siddik et al. (Sat,) studied this question.