One of the most serious socio-educational measures for children and adolescents in conflict with the law in Brazil is their internment. This measure may represent an additional source of stress to this population and present significant impacts in the mental health context. This study aims to describe anxiety levels, depression, and addictive consumption, as well as to estimate the causalities and interactions of these variables. Herein, we report a study in which 175 male juveniles from youth detention institutions of the Federal District voluntarily completed the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), and a short self-rating questionnaire asking whether and how often they had experienced cannabis, alcohol, and other “hard” psychotropic drugs (e.g., crack, cocaine, amphetamine) 1 year prior to institutionalization. Of the total participants, 28.00% showed moderate to severe depression scores and 34.28% showed moderate to severe anxiety scores. In addition, the vast majority of participants also reported some antecedent drug abuse, including cannabis, alcohol, and other “hard drugs.” The BDI scores moderately correlated with BAI, but none of these parameters considerably correlated with the antecedent drug abuse. The data indicate potentially concerning levels of emotional distress in these institutionalized juveniles which seem to be independent of addictive behaviors. These data deserve attention and further investigation. Thus, a need for preventative mental health for the general population and socio-educational intervention aimed at interned youth which can decrease levels of emotional stress is emphasized.

中文翻译：

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巴西利亚收养少年犯的抑郁、焦虑和吸毒史指标

在巴西，针对触犯法律的儿童和青少年最严厉的社会教育措施之一就是对其进行拘留。这项措施可能会给该人群带来额外的压力，并对心理健康产生重大影响。本研究旨在描述焦虑水平、抑郁和成瘾性消费，并估计这些变量的因果关系和相互作用。在此，我们报告了一项研究，其中来自联邦区青少年拘留机构的 175 名男性青少年自愿完成贝克抑郁量表 (BDI)、贝克焦虑量表 (BAI) 和一份简短的自评问卷，询问他们是否以及多久一次在收容机构前 1 年曾吸食过大麻、酒精和其他“烈性”精神药物（例如强效快克、可卡因、安非他明）。在所有参与者中，28.00% 的人表现出中度至重度抑郁评分，34.28% 的人表现出中度至重度焦虑评分。此外，绝大多数参与者还报告了一些先前的药物滥用情况，包括大麻、酒精和其他“硬性药物”。BDI 评分与 BAI 呈中等相关，但这些参数均与之前的药物滥用没有显着相关。这些数据表明，这些被收容的青少年的情绪困扰程度可能与成瘾行为无关。这些数据值得关注和进一步研究。因此，强调需要对普通民众进行预防性心理健康，并针对被拘留青年进行社会教育干预，以降低情绪压力水平。