Depressed kids in China.

About 1 Chinese child in 10 displays symptoms of severe depression, a proportion that closely matches depression estimates for U.S. youngsters, scientists report in the December Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology.

As in the West, depressed children in China-especially boys-display behavior problems, lag behind academically, and make few friends, the researchers assert. However, they note that extreme shyness and sensitivity to others appears more typical of childhood depression in the West than in China. They relate the difference to the greater value placed on shy, reticent, and emotionally inhibited behavior in Chinese culture.

Xinyin Chen, a psychologist at the University of Western Ontario in London, directed a survey of 261 children selected at random from three Shanghai primary schools. The youngsters were examined at age 8 and again at age 10. Their parents, teachers, and classmates also completed questionnaires.

Social feedback may channel the course of childhood depression in China, Chen's group argues. For instance, the presence of a warm, accepting mother buffered children with academic problems at age 8 from developing depression at age 10. They speculate that peer relations also loom large: Chinese students must evaluate classmates and themselves regularly, and their social and academic standings are publicized.