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Adolescent Context and Depressive Symptom Trajectories in a National Sample: Ages 13 to 34

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Abstract

Group-based trajectory analyses of depressive symptoms are often conducted with convenience samples, over limited developmental periods, or with a limited set of predictors in the adolescent context. Examinations of protective and risk factors in robust national samples are needed. Using an ecological approach, this study’s purpose is to identify key relational and contextual factors associated with trajectory groups of depressive symptoms that span ages 13 to 34. 12,248 respondents in the National Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Waves 1, 3, and 4) were analyzed with a group-based, cohort sequential design to identify trajectory classes, shapes, and adolescent (i.e., Wave 1) risk and protective factors for depressive symptom trajectories. A four-class quadratic solution was identified. Close attachment to parents was strongly associated with decreased odds of membership on elevated trajectories. No relationship with a mother or father was associated with better mental health than a poor relationship with that parent. Peer support, teacher support, and educational achievement were highly protective. Romantic relationships, increased number of sexual partners, and prayer were modestly associated with higher depressive symptom burden. Pregnancy was associated with increased burden later in life relative to the teenage years. In sum, adolescent family, school, peer, and religious contexts provide insight into several protective and risk factors for depressive symptoms that persist over time.

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Funding

This research uses data from Add Health, a program project directed by Kathleen Mullan Harris and designed by J. Richard Udry, Peter S. Bearman, and Kathleen Mullan Harris at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. It was funded by grant P01-HD31921 from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, with cooperative funding from 23 other federal agencies and foundations. No direct support was received from grant P01-HD31921 for this manuscript.

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  1. Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital, 50 Staniford St. Suite 802, Boston, MA, 02114, USA

    Blake Victor Kent

  2. Baylor University, Waco, TX, USA

    Matt Bradshaw

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Kent, B.V., Bradshaw, M. Adolescent Context and Depressive Symptom Trajectories in a National Sample: Ages 13 to 34. Int J Ment Health Addiction 19, 1468–1484 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-020-00236-w

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