Correlates of Depressed Mood in Normal Children

Two instruments which have been proposed as measures of clinical depression in children and an ad hoc teacher rating were given to a group of 109 normal children. The Children's Depression Inventory (CDI), the Peer Nomination Inventory for Depression (PNID), and a teacher rating of depression were given along with the Conners Teacher Rating Scale (TRS), teacher ratings of somatic complaints, peer popularity, and absenteeism, and peer ratings of popularity to examine the behavioral correlates of depressed mood in normal children. While few sex differences were found on mean depression scores, different patterns of correlations were found for the two sexes. For males, there were no significant correlations among the three depression measures, but all three depression measures were correlated with unpopularity and conduct problem ratings on the TRS. For females, the three depression measures were adequately intercorrelated. The teacher rating of depression was correlated with general deviance as measured by the TRS, but the CDI and PNID were correlated with TRS ratings of conduct problems, with peer ratings of unpopularity, and with teacher ratings of somatic complaints. Implications for the issue of the possible existence of a clinical syndrome of depression in children were discussed.