Depressive symptoms among adolescents in non-clinical Krakow's population - thirty years' follow-up.

Renata Modrzejewska,Agnieszka Pac,Jacek Bomba

doi:10.12740/pp/99536

Abstract

Assessment of predictive value of the occurrence of depressive symptoms during adolescence. For this purpose,the life history of untreated adolescents screened for the presence of depressive symptoms was assessed twice, at intervals of fifteen years, including an assessment of their health history, their family-related, occupational, material and social situation. The comparison of the fate of depressive adolescents with the fate of their non-depressive peers was aimed at answering the question about the influence of adolescent depression on health in adulthood. In 1985, a random sample of 1,035 people - students aged 15 and 17 - was examined for a screening diagnosis of adolescent depression. The Krakow Depression Inventory (KID) questionnaires version for 15-year-olds ("IOB1") and for 17-year-olds ("IOC1") were used. After 15 years, data on 238 people (23%) were obtained. In 2015, responses were obtained from 101 people (9.8% of those surveyed in 1985). An analysis of the results of a 30-year prospective study of the relationship between depressiveness in adolescence, in untreated adolescents, and the health and functioning in adulthood indicates that, contrary to predictions, the appearance of depression in this phase of development cannot be treated as a predictor of mental disorders later in life. Long-term observation in our prospective study supports the hypothesis of a developmental character of adolescent depression.

Highlights

At the beginning of the 21st century, it was predicted that depressive disorders would become one of the most important health-related problems in the developed world [1]
We must take note that our research shows that depression in untreated adolescents takes various courses
The life history of untreated adolescents screened for the presence of depressive symptoms was assessed twice, at intervals of fifteen years, including an assessment of their health history, their family-related, occupational, material, and social situation

Summary

Introduction

At the beginning of the 21st century, it was predicted that depressive disorders would become one of the most important health-related problems (global disease burden) in the developed world [1]. The concept of depressive disorders is not precise and for many years has been raising a number of nosological, etiological and diagnostic doubts, which is reflected, among others, in the evolution of diagnostic classifications and endless controversies in this regard [3]. Such concerns apply to depression in the developmental period. The question which is still open is how the occurrence of individual symptoms of depression or mild symptoms translates into a risk of depression or other psychiatric and life-related problems in subsequent decades of life

Methods

Results

Conclusion