Early Adversity and the Prospective Prediction of Depressive and Anxiety Disorders in Adolescents

Abstract

The current study was a prospective exploration of the specificity of early childhood adversities as predictors of anxiety and depressive disorders in adolescents. Participants were 816 adolescents (414 males, 402 females) with diagnostic information collected at age 15; information on early adversities had been collected from the mothers during pregnancy, at birth, age 6 months, and age 5 years for a related study. Adolescents with "pure" anxiety disorders were compared with adolescents with "pure" depressive disorders (major depressive disorder, dysthymia), and these groups were compared to never-ill controls. Analyses controlled for gender and maternal depression and anxiety disorders. Results indicated that adolescents with anxiety disorders were more likely than depressed youth to have been exposed to various early stressors, such as maternal prenatal stress, multiple maternal partner changes, and more total adversities, whereas few early childhood variables predicted depressive disorders. Even when current family stressors at age 15 were controlled, early adversity variables again significantly predicted anxiety disorders. Results suggest that anxiety disorders may be more strongly related to early stress exposure, while depressive disorders may be related to more proximal stressors or to early stressors not assessed in the current study.KEY WORDS: depression; anxiety; early adversity; longitudinal. Kessler and Magee (1993) investigated the power of retrospectively reported childhood adversities occurring through age 16 to predict depression in an epidemiological sample. Eight adversities were studied, and many were found to be associated with incidence and prevalence of major depressive disorder. Parental drinking, parental mental illness, violence in the family, parents' marital problems, death of mother or father, and absence of a close adult relationship in childhood were significantly associated with onset of depression by age 20. These results are consistent with psychological models of depression that commonly emphasize the influence of negative childhood experiences in the family affecting the qual-

Stress Sensitization and Adolescent Depressive Severity as a Function of Childhood Adversity: A Link to Anxiety Disorders

“…Studies have shown that adversity experienced in childhood is associated with both depressive and anxiety disorders later in life (Brown & Harris, 1993;Kessler, Davis, & Kendler, 1997). In fact, Phillips, Hammen, Brennan, Najman, and Bor (2005), using the same community sample as the present study, demonstrated that adolescents with a history of pure anxiety disorders were more likely than adolescents with a history of pure depression to have been exposed to various childhood adversities. Other studies have found higher rates of childhood adversity in patients with co-morbid depression and anxiety than in patients with pure depression or pure anxiety (Alnaes & Torgerson, 1990;Mancini et al, 1995), suggesting that childhood adversity may place individuals particularly at risk to experience both anxiety and depression over the course of their lifetime.…”

Early‐life single‐episode sevoflurane exposure impairs social behavior and cognition later in life

“…2004; Phillips et al. 2005; Read and Hammersley 2005; Cath et al. 2008; Champagne and Curley 2009; Roullet et al.…”

A Randomized Controlled Trial of a Depression Prevention Curriculum for Rural Middle School Girls: Initial Findings and 6-Month Follow-up

“…This study also found significant relationships between depression scores and history of physical and sexual abuse, poor exercise, body mass index (BMI), interpersonal problems with peers, problems with family, and poor school performance [3]. Researchers have also begun to identify a strong link between developmental stressors and an increased risk of depression during adolescence [4][5][6][7]. Moreover, Monroe and Harkness [6], note that an increased emphasis should be placed on the role that life stressors likely play in the association between a premier episode of major affective disorder, and subsequent sensitization to further stressors [6].…”

“…In a study examining adversities in adolescence (e.g. parental drinking, parental mental illness, violence in the family home, and parents' marital struggles), researchers found that the experience of adversity was significantly linked to the occurrence of a depressive episode by age 20 [7]. Furthermore, although this research is not specifically focused on rural adolescents, it does lend itself to the importance of depression prevention during this age and stage of development.…”