Saliva test could predict which teen boys get depression

[ScottMentalPod]

A saliva test for teenage boys with mild symptoms of depression could help identify those who will later develop major depression, a new study says.

Researchers measured the stress hormone cortisol in teenage boys and found that ones with high levels coupled with mild depression symptoms were up to 14 times more likely to suffer clinical depression later in life than those with low or normal cortisol levels.

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/2014-02- ... depression

[ScottMentalPod]

First biological marker for major depression could enable better diagnosis and treatment
http://www.psypost.org/2014/02/first-bi ... ment-22906

"Teenage boys who show a combination of depressive symptoms and elevated levels of the ‘stress hormone’ cortisol are up to fourteen times more likely to develop major depression than those who show neither trait..."

[DeCreate]

Wow, that's interesting! Why just boys, I wonder?

[walklikeanegyptian]

Because boys are more important than girls.

[ScottMentalPod]

DeCreate,

My guess is girls deal with stress better than boys but it probably more has to do with how hormones work in girls versus boys.