Characteristics of depressive symptoms in middle school students one month after Zhouqu debris flow

Objective To survey and analyze the prevalence of depressive symptoms in the middle school students after Zhouqu debris flow.Methods A cross-sectional survey was carried out with Beck Depression Inventory-2nd Edition(BDI-II) in 1 273 middle school students one month after Zhouqu debris flow.Results The total prevalence of depressive symptoms in the students was 54.8% and the prevalences of mild,moderate,and severe depressive symptom in the students were 22.6%(20.1% for male,25.72% for female),20.2%(19.8% for male,20.9% for female),and 12.0%(10.4% for male,13.7% for female),respectively.The prevalences of mild and severe depressive symptom of the females were higher than those of the males(P < 0.05).The BDI-II scores were 16.94±9.86 and 15.10±9.73 for the female and male with a significant difference(P < 0.01).The BDI-II score(15.95±9.83) of the students was significantly higher than that of Wenchuan students(15.10±9.09) after the earthquake(P < 0.01).Conclusion The depressive symptoms in middle school students one month after Zhouqu debris flow was serious,especially for the girls,and more attention should be paid to psychology crisis prevention in acute trauma of the disaster among middle school students.