Developmental Trajectories of Anxiety and Depression Symptoms from Early to Middle Childhood: a Population-Based Cohort Study in the Netherlands

Jasmijn M De Lijster,Henning Tiemeier,Michiel A Van Den Dries,Jan Van Der Ende,Vincent W Jaddoe,Gwendolyn C Dieleman,Manon H.J Hillegers,Jeroen S Legerstee,Elisabeth M.W.J Utens

doi:10.1007/s10802-019-00550-5

Abstract

Developmental patterns of anxiety and depression symptoms in early childhood have previously been related to anxiety and mood disorders in middle childhood. In the current study, trajectories of anxiety and depression symptoms (1.5–10 years) were related to children’s broader psychosocial and school-related functioning at 10 years. We included a population-based sample of 7499 children, for whom primary caregivers reported anxiety and depression symptoms on the Child Behavior Checklist, at children’s ages of 1.5, 3, 6, and 10. Growth Mixture Modeling identified four distinct, gender-invariant, trajectories of anxiety and depression symptoms: low (82.4%), increasing (7.4%), decreasing (6.0%), and increasing symptoms up to age 6 followed by a decrease to age 10 (preschool-limited, 4.2%). Children with a non-Dutch ethnicity had lower odds to be in the increasing trajectory and higher odds to be in the decreasing and pre-school limited trajectory. Also, low maternal education predicted the decreasing and pre-school limited trajectory. Higher levels of psychopathology during pregnancy for both mothers and fathers predicted the increasing, decreasing, and preschool-limited trajectory, compared to the low trajectory. At age 10, children in the increasing and preschool-limited trajectory had diminished psychosocial outcomes (friendship-quality and self-esteem) and worse school-related outcomes (school performance and school problems). This study adds to current knowledge by demonstrating that developmental patterns of anxiety and depression symptoms in early childhood are related to broader negative outcomes in middle childhood. Child and family factors could guide monitoring of anxiety and depression symptoms in the general population and provide targets for prevention programs.

Highlights

Developmental patterns of anxiety and depression symptoms in early childhood have previously been related to anxiety and mood disorders in middle childhood
Children with high levels of anxiety and depression symptoms in early childhood are more likely to experience these symptoms in middle childhood (Bayer et al 2010; Mesman et al 2001; Mian et al 2011)
After determining the final model, we examined the association between possible predictors of anxiety and depression symptom trajectories by entering the predictors as auxiliary variables in the growth mixture model

Summary

Introduction

Developmental patterns of anxiety and depression symptoms in early childhood have previously been related to anxiety and mood disorders in middle childhood. This study adds to current knowledge by demonstrating that developmental patterns of anxiety and depression symptoms in early childhood are related to broader negative outcomes in middle childhood. Anxiety and depression symptoms have been negatively associated with children’s daily functioning; such as lower performance at elementary school (Ialongo et al 1994, 1995; Kovacs and Goldston 1991; Muris and Meesters 2002) and a diminished social competence, peer acceptance, and friendship quality (Kingery et al 2010; Rudolph et al 1994). Groupbased trajectory modeling is a valuable statistical approach to identify different courses of anxiety and depression in early childhood (Curran et al 2010). This approach is able to identify sub-groups with shared common patterns of change in anxiety and depression over time (Fanti and Henrich 2010; Jung and Wickrama 2008)

Methods

Results

Conclusion