This longitudinal study of adolescents in the first year of secondary school, examined the relationship between psychological functioning at the beginning of year 7 (mean age 11.25 years) with attainment at the end of year 7 (mean age 11.78 years). Depressive symptoms, school liking and conduct problems predicted lower attainment across time having controlled for the temporal stability in psychological functioning and attainment. School concerns predicted lower attainment for boys only, and the effects of depressive symptoms on later attainment were significantly stronger for boys compared to girls. School liking – and school concerns for boys – remained significant predictors of attainment when controlling for conduct problems. The transition to secondary school may represent a window of opportunity for developing interventions aimed at improving both pupil psychological functioning and attainment.

Key Points Question Do neuropsychiatric disorder genetic risk variants influence developmental trajectories of depression in youth? Findings In this population-based study including 7543 adolescents, distinct depression trajectory classes were identified. A later-adolescence–onset class (17.3% of the sample) showed a typical depression trajectory and was associated with major depressive disorder risk alleles, and an early-adolescence–onset class (9.0%) showed clinically significant symptoms at age 12 years and was associated with schizophrenia and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder genetic risk, childhood attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, and neurodevelopmental traits. Meaning Depression in youth is heterogeneous; findings are consistent with emerging evidence for a neurodevelopmental component to some cases of depression and that this component is more likely when onset is very early.

Medical Research Council.

Persistence of ADHD symptoms across childhood and adolescence in the general population is associated with higher PRS for ADHD. Childhood multimorbidity was also associated with persistence of ADHD symptoms and may help to identify children with ADHD whose symptoms are most likely to continue into adolescence.