Exploring the Interplay of Gender, Race, and Personality Traits in Adolescent Depression and Anxiety

Adolescence is a critical period in life, marked by profound shifts in physical, psychological, and social aspects. This phase exposes adolescents to heightened vulnerability to mental health problems, such as depression and anxiety, which can have long-term consequences on their overall wellbeing. This study aims to investigate the impact of gender, race, and personality traits on mental health outcomes, specifically depression and anxiety, among adolescents. The study, utilizing a crosssectional design and data from the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS) dataset, examines relationships between these variables, with responses from an online questionnaire from 28,599 adolescents aged 13 to 24 from 132 countries. Welch’s t-test reveals significant gender differences, with females exhibiting higher levels of depression and anxiety compared to males. Additionally, Welch’s one-way ANOVA found significant variations in depression and anxiety scores among different racial groups,...Show moreAdolescence is a critical period in life, marked by profound shifts in physical, psychological, and social aspects. This phase exposes adolescents to heightened vulnerability to mental health problems, such as depression and anxiety, which can have long-term consequences on their overall wellbeing. This study aims to investigate the impact of gender, race, and personality traits on mental health outcomes, specifically depression and anxiety, among adolescents. The study, utilizing a crosssectional design and data from the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS) dataset, examines relationships between these variables, with responses from an online questionnaire from 28,599 adolescents aged 13 to 24 from 132 countries. Welch’s t-test reveals significant gender differences, with females exhibiting higher levels of depression and anxiety compared to males. Additionally, Welch’s one-way ANOVA found significant variations in depression and anxiety scores among different racial groups, emphasizing the need for culturally sensitive interventions. Personality traits, particularly high neuroticism and low extraversion, openness, conscientiousness and agreeableness, are consistently associated with elevated levels of depression and anxiety as shown in the multiple regression analysis. The overall models incorporating predictors of gender, race, and personality traits collectively have an impact on predicting the levels of depression and anxiety. Limitations include unequal variances of different variables, the use of self-report measures and the cross-sectional design, suggesting cautious interpretation of the findings. These results underscore the critical need for continued exploration into the nuanced interplay of gender, race, and personality traits in shaping adolescent mental health outcomes.Show less

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Exploring the Interplay of Gender, Race, and Personality Traits in Adolescent Depression and Anxiety