Levels of Impulse Control and Self-efficacy in Depression at Risk and Vulnerable Adolescents

The occurrence of depressive disorders in adolescence is of great individual and social importance because of their prevalence and persistence into adulthood and their comorbidity with other psychosocial disorders. The rate of prevalence in India has of late increased among adolescents. Present study is aimed at identifying adolescents who are ‘at risk’ of developing depression. This also attempts to explore the protective factors that may influence the control of depression with the help of specific measures like impulsiveness and depression. Children who are “at risk’ of depression and those who are vulnerable towards depression were screened on the basis of cut off scores of Beck Depression Inventory and Depression Symptom Checklist from a sample of 100 senior secondary school students. Twenty students were selected and divided into three groups viz, depression ‘at risk’, ‘vulnerable ‘towards depression and ‘control’, impulse-control and General Self-efficacy scale were administered on all the three groups. Results indicate that depression ‘at risk’ and vulnerable adolescents are significantly low in impulse control than there control counterparts while a significantly low perceived self-efficacy has been reported among depression ‘at risk’ group only.