The role of stressful life events in the development of depressive symptoms in adolescence--a longitudinal community study.
Depressive symptoms were measured in a cohort of community-based adolescents (n = 163) at two time-points, with 1 year intervening. At Time 2, participants also answered a scale about past-year stressful life events. Depressive symptoms increased from Time 1 to Time 2, the effect being stronger for girls than for boys. Depressive symptoms were significantly correlated with concurrent measures of recent stressful life events, but this relationship disappeared after controlling for previous depressive symptoms. Rather, previous level of depressive symptoms predicted stressful life events. This demonstrates that a unidirectional model of stressful life events as the cause of depressive symptoms in adolescents is too simplistic.
Waaktaar
Trine
T
Nic Waals Institute and Regional Centre for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Region East and South, P.O. Box 23, N-0801 Taasen, Norway. trine.waaktaar@r-bup.no
Borge
Anne Inger Helmen
AI
Fundingsrud
Hans Petter
HP
Christie
Helen Johnsen
HJ
Torgersen
Svenn
S
D003625:Data Collection; D003863:Depression / Q000209:etiology* / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D009664:Norway; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications*