Analyzing the levels of depressive symptoms among secondary school students in Canada and Turkey

Abstract

To examine the level of depressive symptoms of the secondary school students in Turkey and Canada has been aimed in this study. The research group of the study consists of 1050 secondary school students with the average age of 13. Their socio-economic levels are low in both countries, Canada and Turkey. Data has been analyzed by independent groups t-Test, Two Way ANOVA and Tukey HSD Test. The study revealed that the level of depressive symptoms of Turkish secondary school students has been found higher than the level of depressive symptoms of Canadian secondary school students. While the levels of depressive symptoms of the Canadian female students have been higher than male students, the level of depressive symptoms of Turkish students has not differentiated in terms of their genders. While the common interactions of the educational levels of Turkish students’ parents on depressive symptoms have been found significant, the levels of depressive symptoms of Canadian pupils have not presented any changes according to parents’ educational levels. The results of the study have been discussed and some suggestions have been presented.

Keywords: depressive symptoms, secondary school students, early adolescent, Canada, Turkey.