Hindawi Publishing Corporation Obstetrics and Gynecology International Volume 2010, Article ID 952493, 7 pages doi:10.1155/2010/952493 Clinical Study Depressive Symptoms and Resilience among Pregnant Adolescents: A Case-Control Study Danny Salazar-Pousada,1 Dalton Arroyo,1 Luis Hidalgo,1, 2 Faustino R. Pe´ rez-L o´pez,3 and Peter Chedraui1, 2 1 High Risk Pregnancy Labor and Delivery Unit, Enrique C. Sotomayor Obstetrics and Gynecology, Hospital Guayaquil, 196 Guayaquil, Ecuador 2 Facultad de Ciencias M´edicas, Universidad Cato´lica de Santiago de Guayaquil, 196 Guayaquil, Ecuador 3 Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Hospital Cl´ınico de Zaragoza, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Zaragoza, 50009 Zaragoza, Spain Correspondence should be addressed to Faustino R. Pe´rez-Lo´ pez, faustino.perez@unizar.es Received 28 November 2010; Accepted 31 December 2010 Academic Editor: Liliana S. Voto Copyright © 2010 Danny Salazar-Pousada et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Background. Data regarding depression and resilience among adolescents is still lacking. Objective. To assess depressive symptoms and resilience among pregnant adolescents. Method. Depressive symptoms and resilience were assessed using two validated inventories, the 10-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies Short Depression Scale (CESD-10) and the 14-item Wagnild and Young Resilience Scale (RS), respectively. A case-control approach was used to compare diﬀerences between adolescents and adults. Results. A total of 302 pregnant women were enrolled in the study, 151 assigned to each group. Overall, 56.6% of gravids presented total CESD-10 scores 10 or more indicating depressed mood. Despite this, total CESD-10 scores and depressed mood rate did not diﬀer among studied groups. Adolescents did however display lower resilience reﬂected by lower total RS scores and a higher rate of scores below the calculated median (P < .05). Logistic regression analysis could not establish any risk factor for depressed mood among studied subjects; however, having an adolescent partner (OR, 2.0 CI 95% 1.06–4.0, P = .03) and a preterm delivery (OR, 3.0 CI 95% 1.43–6.55, P = .004) related to a higher risk for lower resilience. Conclusion. In light of the ﬁndings of the present study, programs oriented at giving adolescents support before, during, and after pregnancy should be encouraged. 1. Introduction Adolescence is a time of physical changes, psychological mat- uration, and social value acquisition. Teenagers face many challenges and stressful situations related to educational commitment, social behaviour, sexual development, familial conﬂicts, economical problems, and substance abuse. These factors may certainly modulate personality and individual behaviour. Recent reports indicate that adolescents are initi- ating sexuality at an earlier age than in the past; in many cases contraceptive measures are not being used [1]. Pregnancies among adolescents are considered as a complication, as they favour education interruption, poor present and future health, higher rates of poverty, problems for present and future children, among other negative outcomes [2]. Adolescents display emotional responses toward an undesired pregnancy, presenting higher school dropout rates, social punishment, and segregation [1, 3]. Anxiety, stress, and depression are among the most frequently encountered reactions toward an unexpected pregnancy [4]; however, there is limited information regarding this reaction among adolescents as compared to older pregnant women [5]. Resilience, on the other hand, has been deﬁned as the capacity that allows an individual to prevent, minimize, or overcome damage imposed by life adversity [6, 7]. It is a measure on how individuals cope, overcome, or even become positively strengthened by changes and challenges. Resilience is pivotal for adolescents to mature in healthy ways, includ- ing sexual health and well-being maintenance. Adolescents face many diﬃculties and stressful situations: personal