A recent study has found that girls, not boys, who weighed less than 5.5 pounds at birth are more likely to experience depression as teens. In fact, if all girls weighed at least 5.5 pounds at birth depression would drop 18 percent according to a Los Angeles Times article. The study conducted by Duke University School of Medicine found that only 8 percent of normal birth weight girls developed adolescent depression while an overwhelming 38 percent of girls who weighed less than 5.5 pounds at birth developed depression.

Girls who experienced childhood poverty and a traumatic event were even more likely to experience adolescent depression. The depression rate rose to 15 percent among girls who weighed at least 5.5 pounds at birth. Among girls who weighed less than 5.5 pounds at birth, 80 percent were affected by adolescent depression when they had experienced childhood poverty and trauma.

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