Major depression in the transition to adulthood: Risks and impairments.

Abstract

An ongoing longitudinal community study (N = 375) examined childhood risks and later adult impairments associated with 1-year Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd ed., rev.; American Psychiatric Association, 1987) diagnoses of major depression during the transition to adulthood. Risks from birth to age 9 were reported by mothers, participants, and teachers. Teacher-reported hostility at age 6 predicted later depression. At age 9, self-perceptions of anxiety/depression, unpopularity, familial rejection, and abuse were potent risks. For men, neonatal and childhood health problems predicted later depression. For women, risks included family constellation, parental death, and poor academic achievement at age 9. Men and women who were depressed at age 18, age 21, or both demonstrated extensive psychosocial impairments in early adulthood, including poor overall functioning, interpersonal and behavioral problems, low self-esteem, and suicidality.

Adolescent School Failure Predicts Later Depression Among Girls

“…Thus "school failure," as defined by the current study, can be considered a marker for identifying girls who are at increased risk, though both academic and behavioral reasons may contribute to these failures. Consistent with our gender-specific findings, Reinherz and colleagues [7] found that poor academic achievement at age 9 was a risk factor for women but not for men. Other research has shown girls to be more sensitive to competency evaluations [32], so it possible that girls may be psychologically more vulnerable to actual failure experiences in the school domain, particularly since they were less common for girls than for boys.…”

“…Previous literature has identified neonatal and childhood health problems as a gender-specific risk factor predicting depression among men during the transition to adulthood [7]. There may be other risk factors not accounted for by our model that are important for boys, or depressive risk may emerge at a different developmental time point for boys.…”

“…In terms of social problems, interpersonal difficulties such as peer rejection [4], friendship disruption [2,5], lack of social competence [6], and relationship problems are strongly associated with depression [2,4]. Likewise, poor academic achievement is a risk factor for later depression [7]. Finally, prior research has suggested that conduct problems in childhood may be associated with depression during adolescence [8,9] or adulthood [10].…”

Association of Parental Depression With Psychiatric Course From Adolescence to Young Adulthood Among Formerly Depressed Individuals.

“…Recent studies exploring the longitudinal course of adolescent MDD (e.g., Harrington, Fudge, Rutter, Pickles, & Hill, 1990;Lewinsohn, Rohde, Klein, & Seeley, 1999;Rao et al, 1999;Reinherz, Giaconia, Hauf, Wasserman, & Silverman, 1999;Weissman et al, 1999) indicate that while most depressed adolescents recover from the index MDD episode, the risk of depression recurrence and psychiatric comorbidity in young adulthood is substantial.…”

Randomized trial of a brief depression prevention program: An elusive search for a psychosocial placebo control condition

“…Major depression is a common, recurrent, and impairing condition that predicts future suicide attempts, academic failure, interpersonal problems, unemployment, substance abuse, and delinquency (Gotlib, Lewinsohn, & Seeley, 1998;Newman et al, 1996;Reinherz, Giaconia, Hauf, Wasserman, & Silverman, 1999). Even subdiagnostic depressive symptoms persist over time and predict onset of psychiatric disorders, inpatient hospitalization, impaired social and academic functioning, and suicidal ideation (Capaldi & Stoolmiller, 1999;Nolen-Hoeksema, Girgus, & Seligman, 1992).…”