Trajectories of depressive symptoms and adult educational and employment outcomes

Abstract

BackgroundDepressive symptoms show different trajectories throughout childhood and adolescence that may have different consequences for adult outcomes. AimsTo examine trajectories of childhood depressive symptoms and their association with education and employment outcomes in early adulthood. MethodWe estimated latent trajectory classes from participants with repeated measures of self-reported depressive symptoms between 11 and 24 years of age and examined their association with two distal outcomes: university degree and those not in employment, education or training at age 24. ResultsOur main analyses (n = 9399) yielded five heterogenous trajectories of depressive symptoms. The largest group found (70.5% of participants) had a stable trajectory of low depressive symptoms (stable-low). The other four groups had symptom profiles that reached full-threshold levels at different developmental stages and for different durations. We identified the following groups: childhood-limited (5.1% of participants) with fullthreshold symptoms at ages 11-13; childhood-persistent (3.5%) with full-threshold symptoms at ages 13-24; adolescent onset (9.4%) with full-threshold symptoms at ages 17-19; and earlyadult onset (11.6%) with full-threshold symptoms at ages 22-24. Relative to the majority 'stable-low' group, the other four groups all exhibited higher risks of one or both adult outcomes. ConclusionsAccurate identification of depressive symptom trajectories requires data spanning the period from early adolescence to early adulthood. Consideration of changes in, as well as levels of, depressive symptoms could improve the targeting of preventative interventions in early-to-mid adolescence. Declaration of interestNone.

Genetic and Environmental Risk Factors Associated With Trajectories of Depression Symptoms From Adolescence to Young Adulthood

“…Previous research has validated the 5-class trajectory model by observing that different trajectories correspond with a diagnosis of depression that is applicable to each time (ie, childhood limited had a stronger association with an early diagnosis, and early-adult onset had a stronger association with a later diagnosis of depression). 15 Other longitudinal cohorts using similar methods 65,66 also observed 5-class trajectories, thus increasing the generalizability of these trajectories. However, it is worth noting that previous research using the same data (albeit only to age 18 years) 23 only identified 3 trajectories of depression symptoms compared with the 5 in this study.…”

Educational and Employment Outcomes among Young Australians with a History of Depressive Symptoms: A Prospective Cohort Study

“…The experience of mental health problems in adolescence can disrupt this process. Those who reported common mental health problems in adolescence were more likely to not be in employment, education, or training (NEET) as young adults [ 2 ]. This association has been observed even following adjustment for common confounders [ 3 ].…”

“…In particular, we sought to extend this investigation to follow young people from adolescence into employment, and to assess whether a history of depressive symptoms in adolescence is associated with exposure to mental health-averse psychosocial job stressors. Specifically, we hypothesized that a history of depressive symptoms reported during adolescence will be associated with: [ 1 ] lower educational attainment; [ 2 ] reduced odds of employment; and [ 3 ] greater exposure to psychosocial job stressors among those who obtain employment in emerging adulthood approximately a decade later. Given recent findings that experiencing symptoms of depressive symptoms throughout adolescence has a stronger association with educational and employment outcomes [ 3 ], we further hypothesized that depressive symptoms reported at one adolescent wave will only be associated with a weaker association on educational and employment outcomes as compared to depressive symptoms experienced at both adolescent survey waves.…”

Five models for child and adolescent data linkage in the UK: a review of existing and proposed methods

“…Without appropriate support there is a risk of downward-spiralling trajectories, with negative impact on the health, social, occupational and learning outcomes of the young person. 9 The absence of support can lead to ramifications for the young person, their immediate family and broader society, including demands on primary and secondary care and unemployment.…”