Depressive symptoms in adolescence : A longitudinal study of predictors, pathways, and consequences
Year: 2012
Type: dissertation
Abstract: BACKGROUND: The current study examined childhood predictors and adulthood consequences of adolescent depressive symptoms. Despite the amount of studies that have examined predictors and consequences of adolescent depressive symptoms, few have examined the interplay between different risk factors while using several measurement points of adolescent depressive symptoms. The first general aim was therefore to extend our knowledge about effects of significant predictors present during childhood and adolescence on symptom development. Furthermore, findings consistently report that girls are at increased risk of developing depression compared to boys in adolescence. Still, there is a lack of longitudinal studies examining this gender-gap. A second general aim was therefore to extend our knowledge about gender differences and gender-specific mechanisms in the association between precursors and predictors of depressive symptoms. The third general aim was to examine consequences of persistent adolescent depressive symptoms on pregnancy outcomes in emerging adulthood. \n\nMETHOD: Questionnaire data were utilized from two ongoing longitudinal studies: 1) The eight-wave Tracking Problems and Opportunities Study (TOPP) following individuals and their families from early childhood to late adolescence (1993-2011), and 2) The nine-wave Victorian Adolescent Health Cohort Study (VAHCS) following individuals from adolescence to adulthood (1992-2011). The thesis includes three papers, in which the first two papers used data from the TOPP-study and the final paper used data from the VAHCS-study.
Author: Wendy Nilsen
Language: English
Subfield: Clinical Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2283694777