DOI: 10.4103/jehp.jehp_1293_25 ISSN: 2277-9531

Influence of the Big Five personality traits and the Wuxing of traditional Chinese medicine on depression in adolescents

Kun Liu, Qisen Li, Dechen Wang, Jintao Shen, Liangsong Li
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BACKGROUND:

Depression is a worldwide problem, and depressive symptoms are common in adolescence. The global point prevalence rate of elevated self-reported depression is higher than in any other age group. Therefore, it is necessary to pay attention to the depression in adolescents.

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

16- to 18-year-old Chinese adolescents without prior psychiatric diagnoses were recruited from a high school. The students completed SDS and NEO-FFI. Based on the date of birth (DOB) following Innate Wuxing and Qi, descriptive statistics, χ² tests, Spearman correlations, multiple linear regression, and logistic regression were conducted to explore the correlation between depression and Wuxing.

RESULT:

The prevalence of depression was 25.7% and was significantly higher in girls than in boys (33.6% vs. 41.8%, P < 0.01). Depressive symptoms were positively associated with Neuroticism (β =0.354, P < 0.001) and Openness (β =0.093, P < 0.01), and negatively associated with Extraversion (β = −0.303, P < 0.001), Agreeableness (β = −0.138, P < 0.001), and Conscientiousness (β = −0.112, P < 0.001). Wuxing analysis showed that higher scores for Wood (rho = −0.308, P < 0.05) in boys and Fire (rho = −0.237, P < 0.05) in girls were correlated with lower levels of depression.

CONCLUSION:

These results provide a theoretical basis for diagnosis and treatment of depression in adolescents using an integrated psychology and TCM approach.

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