Teen sex and drugs

Teenagers engaging in behaviours involving sex and drugs are at greater risk of depression.

A new study published in the 'American Journal of Preventive Medicine' has revealed that teenagers engaging in high-risk behaviours involving sex and drugs are at greater risk of depression, suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts than teens who say no to sex and drugs.

"These results suggest that healthcare professionals who identify adolescent patients reporting sexual intercourse or drug use should strongly consider screening for depression and risk of suicide," said Denise D. Hallfors, lead author of the study and a senior research Scientist at the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

Hallfors along with his colleagues analyzed various sex and drug behavior patterns via data from a survey of nearly 19,000 teenagers.

The researchers clustered the teens in 16 groups according to their behaviors. Groups included the abstainers, who eschewed sex and drugs; sex dabblers; alcohol and sex dabblers; teens with multiple sexual partners; and illegal drug users.

Abstainers had the lowest levels of depression, suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts, while teens in groups associated with sex and drugs, and heavy use of illegal drugs such as marijuana had the highest levels. In between were the dabblers in sex, drugs, alcohol and tobacco.

The researchers also found that girls were less likely than boys to pursue high-risk behaviours, but girls who did were more vulnerable than boys to the constellation of depression, suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts.

The study also showed the link between the socio-economic status with depression. While higher socio-economic status reduced the likelihood of depression by about half, it increased the risk of suicidal thoughts. Hallfors and colleagues have, therefore, called for more research to examine this phenomenon.

Meanwhile, Hallfors and his colleagues have advised healthcare professionals to screen all teens for sexual behaviours and drug use and those who engage in such behaviours should be screened for depression and suicide risk also.

"It is particularly important not to miss opportunities to diagnose depression because effective treatments are available, or to overlook suicide risk because suicide can be prevented," concluded Hallfors.