Betts K S, Baker P, Alati R, McIntosh J E, Macdonald J A, Letcher P, Olsson C A
The University of Queensland, School of Population Health,Herston,QLD,Australia.
Centre for Social and Early Emotional Development, School of Psychology,Faculty of Health,Deakin University, Geelong,VIC,Australia.
Psychol Med. 2016 Oct;46(13):2815-27. doi: 10.1017/S0033291716001495. Epub 2016 Jul 21.
The aims of the study were to describe the patterning and persistence of anxiety and depressive symptoms from adolescence to young adulthood and to examine long-term developmental relationships with earlier patterns of internalizing behaviours in childhood.
We used parallel processes latent growth curve modelling to build trajectories of internalizing from adolescence to adulthood, using seven waves of follow-ups (ages 11-27 years) from 1406 participants of the Australian Temperament Project. We then used latent factors to capture the stability of maternal reported child internalizing symptoms across three waves of early childhood follow-ups (ages 5, 7 and 9 years), and examined relationships among these patterns of symptoms across the three developmental periods, adjusting for gender and socio-economic status.
We observed strong continuity in depressive symptoms from adolescence to young adulthood. In contrast, adolescent anxiety was not persistent across the same period, nor was it related to later depressive symptoms. Anxiety was, however, related to non-specific stress in young adulthood, but only moderately so. Although childhood internalizing was related to adolescent and adult profiles, the associations were weak and indirect by adulthood, suggesting that other factors are important in the development of internalizing symptoms.
Once established, adolescent depressive symptoms are not only strongly persistent, but also have the potential to differentiate into anxiety in young adulthood. Relationships with childhood internalizing symptoms are weak, suggesting that early adolescence may be an important period for targeted intervention, but also that further research into the childhood origins of internalizing behaviours is needed.
本研究的目的是描述从青春期到青年期焦虑和抑郁症状的模式及持续性，并探讨其与儿童期内化行为早期模式的长期发展关系。
我们使用平行过程潜变量增长曲线模型，根据澳大利亚气质项目1406名参与者的七次随访（年龄11至27岁）构建从青春期到成年期的内化轨迹。然后，我们使用潜变量来捕捉母亲报告的儿童内化症状在幼儿期三次随访（年龄5、7和9岁）中的稳定性，并在调整性别和社会经济地位后，研究这三个发育阶段症状模式之间的关系。
我们观察到从青春期到青年期抑郁症状具有很强的连续性。相比之下，青少年焦虑在同一时期并不持续，也与后来的抑郁症状无关。然而，焦虑与青年期的非特异性压力有关，但关联程度适中。虽然儿童期内化与青少年和成人的症状特征有关，但到成年期这些关联较弱且间接，这表明其他因素在内化症状的发展中很重要。
一旦形成，青少年抑郁症状不仅具有很强的持续性，而且在青年期有可能分化为焦虑。与儿童期内化症状的关系较弱，这表明青春期早期可能是进行有针对性干预的重要时期，但也需要进一步研究内化行为的儿童期根源。
