Depression in Adolescence Persists Into Young Adulthood

High depressive symptoms during adolescence are associated with a significantly increased risk for depression persistence into young adulthood, regardless of sex. These study results, published in JAMA Network Open, underscore the need for early prevention strategies and mental health resources during adolescence.

The increasing prevalence of suicidal thoughts, self-harm, and persistent mental health issues among young people in the United States has raised substantial public health concerns. However, whether adolescent depressive symptoms predict subsequent mental health concerns into adulthood remains unclear.

To evaluate how depressive symptoms evolve among adolescents and young adults in the US, researchers conducted a longitudinal cohort study using survey respondent data collected between 1990 and 2019 from the Monitoring the Future study. Participants were 12th-grade high school seniors who were followed each year until 22 years of age. Among the 36,552 respondents followed over time, 50.5% were girls/women and 66.0% were white.

The primary outcomes of interest were the persistence and changes in depressive symptoms from 18 to 22 years of age across different birth cohorts. The secondary outcomes were mental well-being measures, including self-derogation, self-esteem, and loneliness.

For both men and women, the most recent birth cohort (born between 1997 and 2001) exhibited a higher prevalence of depressive symptoms at 18 years of age and at 21 to 22 years than earlier generations.

The researchers found that men who had high depressive symptoms at baseline (18 years of age) were 10.24 (95% CI, 7.01-14.97) times more likely to continue experiencing high depressive symptoms at 19 to 20 years of age and 6.20 (95% CI, 3.93-9.78) times were more likely at 21 to 22 years of age.

Similarly, women with high baseline symptoms of depression had increased odds of persistent depressive symptoms at 19 to 20 (odds ratio [OR], 9.16; 95% CI, 6.57-12.76) and 21 to 22 (OR, 7.28; 95% CI, 4.92-10.78) years of age.

“The findings of this cohort study suggest that the current increase in depressive symptoms among US adolescents is swiftly shifting to an increase in young adult depressive symptoms as adolescents move into adulthood,” the researchers concluded.

Study limitations include significant participant attrition and the use of an unvalidated self-reported measure of depressive symptoms, which may affect the accuracy and generalizability of the findings.

This article originally appeared on Psychiatry Advisor