Abstract

CRUVINEL, Miriam  and  BORUCHOVITCH, Evely. Depression in children: a contribuition to the work educational. Psicol. esc. educ. [online]. 2003, vol.7, n.1, pp. 77-84. ISSN 1413-8557.

Presently there are no doubts about the existence of children’s depression during school years. The incidence of depressive symptoms in school years is around 1,8%. However, when it is taken into account the incidence of these symptoms in children who present learning difficulties, this rate increases considerably. The relationship between children’s depression and school performance has been studied in the foreign literature, but in Brazilian population these studies are still scarce. There is still a need for a deeper understanding of the specific nature of this relationship since it is possible that depressive symptoms can contribute negatively to students’ learning and performance. It is also equally possible that learning dificulties can lead to depression symptoms occurence. In line with that, the present study has objective to review the literature critically concerning the realtionship between children’s depression and school performance in order to contribute to a better understanding of this relationship among teachers and educators.

Keywords : Childhood depression; Academic achievement; Educational practice.