Depressive symptomatology in students with emotional and behavioural problems in Hong Kong

The Chinese version of the Beck Depression Inventory (C-BDI) was administered to all the 155 adolescents currently attending special schools for maladjusted boys in Hong Kong and 132 of them completed the questionnaire. Utilizing cut-off points developed by Beck, 44 adolescents (33.3%) were nondepressed, 26 (19.7%) were mildly depressed, 26 (19.7%) were moderately depressed and 36 (27.3%) were severly depressed. Total BDI scores of subjects were not signficantly related to age, length of stay in special schools or acting out behaviors. However, subjects observed to have acting out behaviors by their class teachers were found to be suffering from substantial depressive symptomatology and not as what their surface behaviors indicate. Copyright © 1998 The Hong Kong Special Education Society.