Community-Level Factors and Adolescent Depression in South Korea: Socioeconomic Composition, Education Environment, and Community Wellbeing

This study explores the prevalence of adolescent depression in South Korea and community-level factors related to it, to inform interventions to reduce it. Data were obtained from 36,889 high school students from 39 neighborhoods from the Eighth Korean Youth Risk Behavior Web-based Survey conducted in 2012. Two-level multilevel logistic regression model analysis was used to examine the association of adolescent depression with neighborhood socioeconomic composition, education environment, and community wellbeing. The prevalence of adolescent depression differed by neighborhood. It was associated with differences in Family Affluence Scores, but not with the Government Financial Independence Ratio. Adolescents living in neighborhoods with higher suicide rates were more likely to have depression, but community education environment did not affect the risk of depression. To reduce adolescent depression, both individual- and community-level approaches should be implemented. Specifically, policy should focus on alleviating economic inequality within neighborhoods and preventing suicides. Adolescents living in neighborhoods with higher economic inequality and higher suicide rates should be given priority.