Relevance of Social Support in Depression

Depression is a serious psychological disorder and it is the need of the hour to explore all elements related to depression m order to deal with it effectively. Depression which constitutes almost 70 percent of all mental illness, has taken an alarming proportions, nudging the medical world wakeful (Mendonca, Prasad, & Ragunatha, 1993). The aim of the present investigation is to explore the relationship between depression and social support m adolescent. For this purpose 500 adolescents(250 male and 250 female)age 13-18 years were studied from various schools of Delhi. Beck depression inventory (BDl-11; Beck, Steer,&Brown, 1996) and social support questionnaire (SSQ; Sarson, Levine, Basham, & Sarason, 1983) were administered m order to assess depression and social support respectively. 2 way Analysis of Variance was applied to analyze the data. Results were then discussed in the light of previous literature and implications for further studies were made.