Social inequality in depressive mood from youth to adulthood

Early intervention against adult depressive outcomes should address girls and socially disadvantaged adolescents. For institutions working directly with youth, life transitions might be discussed.

Background: The present project investigates how adolescent socioeconomic background relates to disparities in adult health outcomes - with health, health behavior, social relations, and school/education as intermediating pathways. Adult depressed mood was the main health outcome. Several studies have examined depressive trajectories from adolescence to adulthood, however, few have included pathways that might alter these trajectories for better or worse. Thus, to gain a better understanding of what pathways might be targeted for early interventions to bolster against development of adult depressive outcomes, we look at four pathways across three longitudinal analyses spanning 27-years from early adolescence to mid-adulthood.
Methods: The present project uses data from the Norwegian Longitudinal Health Behavior Study which has a total sample of n = 1247. Data was collected at ten time points: ages 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 21, 23, 30 and 40. Structural equation modelling, and more specifically, latent growth modelling, was used to model the development of depressed mood over time.
Results: Our main findings show a decreasing trajectory of depressed mood from age 13 to 40. Furthermore, we find a gender gap with girls consistently reporting higher depressed mood throughout the study period as well as a social gradient in depressed mood with pupils from lower socioeconomic backgrounds in adolescence reporting higher adult depressed mood as well. In addition, we find that leaving the parental home and moving in with a romantic partner is associated with a reduced depressive mood trajectory afterwards. Preliminary findings on social support and health behaviors also indicate that household income moderates the effect of adolescent parental closeness on adult depressed mood while regularly consuming breakfast during adolescence is linked to lower adult depressed mood.
Conclusions: The present project strongly indicates the importance of adolescent background characteristics as well as intermediating pathways to better understand how long-term depressive trajectories unfold. More specifically, the findings suggest a consistent gender gap and social gradient in depressed mood and point to the positive effects of life transitions involving major shifts in daily interpersonal life which might reduce trajectories of depressed mood from adolescence to adulthood.