Trajectories of depressive symptoms and stressful life events among male and female adolescents in divorced and nondivorced families

This 11-year longitudinal study models the trajectories of depressive symptoms among approximately 550 females and males raised in divorced and nondivorced families in the rural Midwest. Using multilevel analyses, we demonstrate that, first, depressive symptoms changed according to a curvilinear pat...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Development and psychopathology 2006-03, Vol.18 (1), p.253-273
Main Authors: GE, XIAOJIA, NATSUAKI, MISAKI N., CONGER, RAND D.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Age Factors
Children & youth
Depression - epidemiology
Divorce
Families & family life
Family
Female
Humans
Iowa
Life Change Events
Male
Mental depression
Psychology, Adolescent
Rural Population
Stress
Stress, Psychological - epidemiology
Studies
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Summary:This 11-year longitudinal study models the trajectories of depressive symptoms among approximately 550 females and males raised in divorced and nondivorced families in the rural Midwest. Using multilevel analyses, we demonstrate that, first, depressive symptoms changed according to a curvilinear pattern, especially for females; they increased during early to midadolescence and then declined in late adolescence to young adulthood. Second, compared with males, females experienced a greater number of depressive symptoms in adolescence and early adulthood. Third, children who experienced parental divorce by age 15 manifested a sharper increase in depressive symptoms compared to those from nondivorced families. Fourth, stressful life events children experienced shortly after parental divorce mediated the effect of parental divorce on depressive symptoms. Fifth and finally, time-varying stressful life events, particularly those related to relationship and personal loss, were significantly associated with the trajectories of depressive symptoms.During the past several years, support for this research has come from multiple sources including the National Institute of Mental Health (MH00567, MH19734, MH43270, MH48165, MH51361), the National Institute on Drug Abuse (DA05347), the Bureau of Maternal and Child Health (MCJ-109572), the MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Successful Adolescent Development among Youth in High-Risk Settings, the Iowa Agriculture and Home Economics Experiment Station (Project No. 3320), and the California Agriculture Experiment Station (CA-D*-HCD-6092-H).
ISSN:0954-5794
1469-2198
DOI:10.1017/S0954579406060147