Depressive Affects of Students at Secondary and Higher Secondary Levels of Education as Related to Sex, Residence and Socio-Economic Status

Abstract

This study attempts an empirical investigation on depressive affects of students at secondary and higher secondary levels of education as related to sex differentiation, residential background and socio-economic status in the socio-cultural context of Bangladesh. It is said that depressive affect is common in every community. It is a special type of mental disorder accompanied with physical illness. It is characterized by self-devaluation, helplessness, sadness, hopelessness, cognitive difficulty, anxiety, social withdrawal, guilt, agitation, pessimism, alienation and suicidal ideation. Moreover, depression indicates low spirit. It is the most prevalent mental health problem in developing as well as developed counties. Depressive affects in modern psychological syndrome are associated with individualism. As the society moves from collectivism to individualism, depression becomes prominent. Thus depression and modernity are found to be positively associated. It is said that primitive society provides a structure that prevents hopelessness, sadness and despair. This breaks up the process of depression. Industrialized modern societies promote the transition from loss to frustration, hopelessness and helplessness. This makes the way for depression. Competition is a major correlate of depression. It is important to note that modern social system is characterized by competition. A child born in society has to struggle for survival. In this struggle for existence, he has some achievements as well as some failures. Achievement leads to frustration. Repeated frustration may lead the child to develop depressive affect. Researches on depression indicate that there are five types of common emotions. These are affection, pride, contempt, grief and horror. Corresponding to these common emotions, there are five general categories of feelings. These are love, happiness, anger, sadness and fear. The feelings of fear lead to anxiety and the feelings of sadness lead to depression. An essential nature of depression is that it is associated with all types of psychological diseases. It is said that the post World War II is the period of anxiety and the present era of 21st century may be designated as the age of depression. Clinical depression in this age is so widespread that the physicians have called it the common cold of psychiatry. It is argued that no single factor can explain the occurrence of depression. In fact, depression results from an interaction between different factors. Its onset, origin and course are found to be related to a variety of biological, environmental and psychological variables. These include disturbances in neurotransmitter functioning, family history of depression or alcoholism, early parental loss or neglect, recent negative life events, critical or hostile spouse, lack of close confiding relationship, lack of adequate social support and long-term lack of self-esteem. The modern concept of depression stems from various approaches to understand the etiology of depressive affects. These are (I) Learned helplessness model of depression, (II) Defective social skill model of depression, (III) Depression as a developmental process, (IV) Social class vulnerability model of depression, (V) Cognitive model of depression and (VI) self­ control model of depression. An overview of these theories of depression reveals an underlying relationship among different approaches of theoretical constructs. Thus the theories of depression such as learned helplessness, defective social skill, developmental process, social class vulnerability, cognitive theory of depression and self-control model have become influential in generating new researches in the area of depression. The study is based on several objectives. These are given below. 1. The major objective of the study was to conduct an empirical investigation for the measurement of depressive affects of students at secondary and higher secondary levels of education as a function of sex, residence and socio - economic status. 2. The second objective of the study was to explore childhood depression at secondary and higher secondary levels of education to• identify the underlying agents of depression. 3. Third objective of the study was to bring together the divergent views about the causes of childhood depression. 4. The fourth objective of the study was to reflect on specific etiology of emotional malignancy such as depression. 5. The fifth objective of the study was to offer a complete presentation and meaningful synthesis of depressive symptoms 1n the contemporary theories of depression. 6. The sixth objective of the study was to make a profile of major findings on childhood depression and to provide a potential launching pad for future in depth understanding of the etiology of depression. 7. The seventh objective was to add new knowledge to the existing literature of depression……………………….