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This page is an AI-assisted Turkish summary of the study presented at the 26th World Congress of Psychiatry. The study belongs to the presenting authors; please refer to the original source when citing it.

EV0219

Sex differences in the relationship between anxiety and depressive symptoms among adolescents in rural communities in Ciudad Fernandez, San Luis Potosi, Mexico

SEX DIFFERENCES IN THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN ANXIETY AND DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS IN ADOLESCENTS IN RURAL COMMUNITIES OF CIUDAD FERNÁNDEZ (CDFDZ), SAN LUIS POTOSÍ, MEXICO

Anxiety and depressive symptoms are strongly associated in rural adolescents of both sexes, with girls scoring significantly higher on the multivariate depression–anxiety vector.

The aim was to examine the relationship between anxiety and depressive symptoms in adolescents and the influence of sex on this relationship. A cross-sectional study was conducted with 768 adolescents living in rural communities in Ciudad Fernandez, San Luis Potosi, Mexico; depressive symptoms were assessed using the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), and anxiety was assessed using the Generalized Anxiety Disorder scale (GAD-7), both through self-report. The sample was 59.8% female (n=456) and 40.2% male (n=306), with a mean age of 16.8 years (SD 2.4), and 91.4% of participants were at the high school level. Multiple factorial analysis (MFA), multiple linear regression (MLR), and multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) were used in the analysis. MFA revealed a positive correlation between anxiety and depression and a Guttman effect, with the depression profile found to be strongly associated with the anxiety profile in its entirety. MLR identified a positive linear relationship in both sexes; although the slope was slightly steeper in girls (beta=0.996, p<0.001; boys: beta=0.914, p<0.001), the difference was not statistically significant (p=0.130); linear R-squared values were 0.671 for girls and 0.614 for boys. MANOVA showed that girls had statistically higher scores on the multivariate depression–anxiety vector (eta squared = 0.04). In conclusion, the findings indicate a strong association between anxiety and depressive symptoms in adolescents, higher scores among girls, and a need for sex-sensitive prevention and intervention strategies targeting overlapping internalizing symptoms.

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