Teen depressive symptoms can persist into young adulthood

Increases in depressive symptoms in adolescence can persist into young adulthood for people born from 1997 to 2001, with higher rates of depressive symptoms than previous birth cohorts, according to a study published online Aug. 14 in JAMA Network Open.

Katherine M. Keyes, Ph.D., from the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University in New York City, and colleagues assessed the extent to which increases in adolescent depressive symptoms in recent birth cohorts persist among young adults. The analysis included data from 36,552 participants in the Monitoring the Future longitudinal survey from 1990 to 2019 for birth cohorts from 1972 to 2001.

The researchers found that among females, 19.1% of the 1997 to 2001 birth cohort had high depressive symptoms at the age of 18 years, higher than any previous birth cohort. Depressive symptom prevalence declined by age 21 to 22 years, but still remained higher than prevalence among previous cohorts at that age.

Among males, 13.4% of the 1997 to 2001 birth cohort had high depressive symptoms at the age of 18 years, with the prevalence increasing through young adulthood. For males with high baseline depressive symptoms, the odds of symptoms at age 19 to 20 years were 10-fold higher and sixfold higher for symptoms at age 21 to 22 years. Similar findings were seen for females, with ninefold higher odds of symptoms at age 19 to 20 years and sevenfold higher odds of symptoms at age 21 to 22 years.

“Findings of this study suggest the need for primary prevention and mental health resources during the adolescent years,” the authors write.

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