Gender and symptoms of depression and anxiety among Kikuyu secondary school students in Kenya.

Numerous studies have confirmed that patterns of mental illness are influenced by sociocultural factors such as socioeconomic status and gender. This study describes the patterning of symptoms of depression and anxiety on a 20 item self-report questionnaire, the Health Opinion Survey, completed by 159 Kikuyu secondary school students in Kenya. Significant quantitative differences in the responses of males and females to seven of the questions were found, including females reporting more depression symptoms than males. These results are compared to an earlier study of 116 Kikuyu adults in which the differences between males and females were greater. This paper contributes to the literature on the relationship between gender and depression while adding to the sparse descriptive literature on symptoms of depression and anxiety in normal African populations.