• Megan L Ranney, Maureen Walton, Lauren Whiteside, Quyen Epstein-Ngo, Rikki Patton, Stephen Chermack, Fred Blow, and Rebecca M Cunningham.
• Injury Prevention Center, Department of Emergency Medicine, Alpert Medical School, Brown University, 55 Claverick St, Providence, RI 02903. Electronic address: mranney@lifespan.org.
• Gen Hosp Psychiatry. 2013 Sep 1;35(5):537-44.

ObjectiveThe study's objective was to identify correlates of depressive symptoms among at-risk youth in an urban emergency department (ED).MethodA systematic sample of adolescents (ages 14-18) in the ED were recruited as part of a larger study. Participants reporting past-year alcohol use and peer aggression self-administered a survey assessing: demographics, depressive symptoms and risk/protective factors. Logistic regression identified factors associated with depressive symptoms.ResultsAmong 624 adolescents (88% response rate) meeting eligibility criteria, 22.8% (n=142) screened positive for depressive symptoms. In logistic regression, depressive symptoms were positively associated with female gender [odds ratio (OR): 2.84, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.78-4.51], poor academic performance (OR: 1.57, 95% CI: 1.01-2.44), binge drinking (OR: 1.88, 95% CI: 1.21-2.91), community violence exposure (OR: 2.25, 95% CI: 1.59-3.18) and dating violence (OR: 2.14, 95% CI: 1.36-3.38) and were negatively associated with same-sex mentorship (OR: 0.52, 95% CI: 0.29-0.91) and older age (OR: 0.55, 95% CI 0.34-0.89). Including gender interaction terms did not significantly change findings.ConclusionsScreening and intervention approaches for youth in the urban ED should address the co-occurrence of depressive symptoms with peer and dating violence, alcohol and nonmarijuana illicit drug use.Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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