Abstract
BackgroundStressful life events are associated with mood disorders in adults in clinical settings. Less described in the literature is the association between common life stressors and a wide range of psychopathology in young adolescents. This study uses a large non-clinical sample of young adolescents to describe the associations among worry or stress about common life events/difficulties, mental health and substance use.MethodsData on lifetime stress or worry about common life events/difficulties (i.e., romantic breakups, family disruption, interpersonal difficulties, and personal stress (health, weight, school work)), symptoms of depression, conduct disorder symptoms, and substance use were collected from 1025 grade 7 students (mean age 12.9 years; 45% male). The association between each source of stress and each mental health and substance use indicator was modeled in separate logistic regression analyses.ResultsThe proportion of adolescents reporting worry or stress ranged from 7% for new family to 53% for schoolwork. Romantic breakup stress was statistically significantly associated with all the mental health and substance use indicators except illicit drug use. Family disruption was statistically significantly associated with depression symptoms, marijuana use, and cigarette use. Interpersonal difficulties stress was statistically significantly associated with depression symptoms. All sources of personal stress were statistically significantly related to depression symptoms. In addition, health-related stress was inversely related to binge drinking.ConclusionYoung adolescents may benefit from learning positive coping skills to manage worry or stress about common stressors and in particular, worry or stress related to romantic breakups. Appropriate management of mental health symptoms and substance use related to common stressful life events and difficulties may help reduce emerging psychopathology.
Highlights
Stressful life events are associated with mood disorders in adults in clinical settings
In this analysis, we examined the relationships between common sources of worry or stress, mental health symptoms and substance use in a population-based sample of young adolescents
22.5% and 20.3% reported romantic breakup stress; 5.7% and 5.8% reported stress related to the divorce or separation of parents; 3.1% and 3.1% reported stress related to a new family; 15.5% and 14.6% reported stress related to relationship with father, 14.3% and 13.9% reported stress related to relationship with mother; and 10.8% and 8.5% reported stress related to a health problem
Summary
Stressful life events are associated with mood disorders in adults in clinical settings. Mental health and substance use disorders are among the most common health problems that affect adolescents, with prevalence estimates in population-based surveys as high as 15% for depression and 10% for substance misuse [1,2]. These disorders are associated with serious co-morbidity including underachievement in. Stressful life events are described as discrete quantifiable circumstances that can have severe negative impact. In addition to the impact on mental health, both stressful life events and daily stressors are associated with the onset and exacerbation of chronic illness (i.e., diabetes, asthma) [10,11,12,13,14], poor academic functioning, school absenteeism, high utilization of school services, and suicide [15]
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