| Background The incidence of depression among adolescents is increasing, which seriously affects their physical and mental health, and may even lead to suicide and death, or endanger their lives in adulthood, causing heavy economic and mental burdens on families and society. Subclinical depressive symptoms are even more prevalent among adolescents, affecting their quality of life. Long-term depressive symptoms may develop into depression. Therefore, it is very necessary and important to study depressive symptoms and their related factors in adolescents. Up to now, no survey on depressive symptoms in children and adolescents from the third grade of primary school to the second grade of high school has been conducted in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Objective: To understand the detection rate of depressive symptoms among students from the third grade of primary school to the second grade of high school in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, and to provide a reference for formulating effective prevention strategies and intervention measures. Methods: A cluster stratified random sampling method was used to select 6,281 students from the third grade of primary school to the second grade of high school in 12 cities and leagues of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in 2023. The Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS) and a self-designed questionnaire were used for on-site investigation. Results: A total of 6,058 children and adolescents completed the effective questionnaire survey, among which 2,728 cases had depressive symptoms, with a detection rate of 45.03%. Univariate analysis showed that there were statistically significant differences in the detection rates of depressive symptoms among children and adolescents of different genders, ages, whether they were only children, different family types, monthly family income, parents' educational levels, and whether the mother was employed (2 = 33.769, 40.618, 48.593, 29.972, 142.650, 142.650, 168.190, 5.445, P < 0.05 or 0.01). Logistic regression analysis showed that being female, aged 12-16 years, non-only child, reconstituted family, monthly family income below 5,000 yuan, and father's educational level of primary school or below were statistically significant (OR = 1.241, 1.427, 1.177, 1.549, 1.278-1.929, 1.660, P < 0.05). Conclusion: The detection rate of depressive symptoms among children and adolescents in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region is relatively high. Being female, aged 12-16 years, non-only child, reconstituted family, monthly family income below 5,000 yuan, and parents' educational level of primary school or below may be predictive factors for depressive symptoms. |