Abstract:

Objetive: The purpose of this study was to analyze the relationship between school anxiety and depression in a sample of Spanish high school students.

Method: The School Anxiety Inventory (SAQ; Garcia-Fernandez, Ingles, Martinez-Monteagudo, Marzo & Estevez, 2011) and the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI; Kovaks, 1992, translated and validated for Spanish population by Del Barrio & Carrasco, 2004, Del Barrio, Moreno-Rosset & Lopez-Martinez, 1999) were administered in a sample of 1.409 students, ranging in age from 12 to 18 years (M = 14.32, SD = 1.88). Predictor equations were established by using logistic regression, following the forward stepwise regression procedure based on the Wald statistic. Logistic modeling allowed us to estimate the probability of an event, incident or result occurring versus it not occurring, in the presence of one or more predictors. This probability was estimated through the statistic called odd ratio (OR), which was interpreted in the following way: OR > 1 indicated a positive prediction, OR < 1 indicated a negative prediction, whereas a value of 1 indicated that there was no prediction.

Results: Results show that school anxiety was significant predictor of depression. The odd ratio (OR) indicates that the probability of presenting high depression is 12.80 times higher in students with high school anxiety.

Conclusion: In conclusion, this study found relationships between school anxiety and depression, confirming results from previous studies. Practical implications of these results are discussed.

Keywords:

School anxiety, depression, adolescence.