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Teen Girls Twice as Likely to Suffer Depression than Boys

According to a new study, girls are nearly twice as likely than boys to experience bouts of depression and anxiety in their teenage years.

Researchers monitored nearly 2,000 students from high schools in Victoria, Australia, between 1992 and 2008.

They were each tested eight times for mental disorders, between the ages of about 15 years and 29 years.

The report, published in The Lancet, found 54 per cent of girls suffered an episode of depression or anxiety during their teens.

For boys, that figure dipped below a third (29 percent).

The study's lead author Professor George Patton, says it is still unclear why girls had more problems. "It may be something to do with biology. There may be a predisposition of this kind in girls," he said. "The good news is that many of these problems do resolve."

Many episodes, especially when brief in duration, were limited to teenage years and did not carry on or recur in adulthood, researchers found. Overall, almost half with a disorder in adolescence had no further issues into adulthood.

Source: ABC News Australia
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-01-16/teen-girls-twice-as-likely-to-suffer-depression-than-boys2c-re/5203626