2022 Symposium for Student Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity

Research shows that multiple medical disorders are comorbid with depression (Gross et al., 2018). The purpose of this study was to determine whether there is an association between the presence of a physical disability and depression symptoms in adolescents. The hypothesis was that the presence of a physical disability would be associated with higher depression symptoms. Data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health were used for this study. Adolescents completed a self-report survey, which included questions about the presence of physical disability, and the severity of depression symptoms. There were 6051 participants, ranging in age from 12-21 years old. The presence of physical disability was measured through a yes/no question inquiring about difficulty using limbs due to a permanent physical condition. The severity of depression symptoms was measured by averaging five survey questions. Participants were asked to rate the extent to which they felt or agreed with several statements including "You didn't feel like eating, your appetite was poor," "You had trouble keeping your mind on what you were doing," "You felt depressed," "You felt lonely," and "You felt life was not worth living." Responses to each question were rated on a 4-point Likert scale, from 0 (Never/rarely) to 3 (Most/all of the time). Results revealed that depression symptoms were significantly higher in participants who had a physical disability (M = .7702, SD = .4805) compared to those without a disability (M =.4741, SD = .76963), F(1, 6488) = 53.766, p; .001. The results show that the presence of disability is associated with higher depressive symptoms and are consistent with past research that shows comorbidity between medical illnesses and depression. Resources could be allocated for therapeutic endeavors focused on those with disabilities to monitor depression symptoms.