Publication year
2008
Citation Title
Depressed mood in childhood and subsequent alcohol use through adolescence and young adulthood.
Journal Name
Archives of General Psychiatry
Journal Volume
65
Issue Number
6
Page Numbers
702-712
DOI
10.1001/archpsyc.65.6.702
Summary
Participants were recruited during childhood and interviewed in early adolescence and adulthood to assess the association between childhood depressed mood and adolescent and young adulthood alcohol use. A high level of depressed mood during childhood was associated with an earlier onset and increased risk of alcohol intoxication, alcohol-related problems during late childhood and early adolescence, and the development of alcohol dependence in young adulthood.
Key Findings
Individuals who experienced a depressed mood in childhood were more likely to engage in alcohol during late adolescence.
Higher levels of depressed mood in childhood were associated with earlier onset of alcohol involvement.
Children with low levels of depression were not significantly different than children with no depressed mood in regards to both groups later alcohol use.
Males and participants that were not White were at elevated risk for stronger associations between mood and alcohol use.
Implications for Military Professionals
Collaborate with community-based organizations to improve referrals for military families
Participate in training about how to recognize mental health difficulties in children and discuss these observations with their parents
Implications for Program Leaders
Offer classes for military parents to learn how to recognize depressed mood in their children and to empower them with potentially useful resources
Offer courses for military youth about the dangers of alcohol use and alternative methods of coping with stress
Implications for Policy Makers
Continue to support the development of programs aimed at the prevention and treatment of childhood depression in military youth
Recommend professional development and training in recognizing childhood depression for professionals who work with military families
Methods
Participants were recruited from their elementary schools via a bigger, longitudinal study about academic achievement and classroom behavior.
Participants were followed over time, and they were assessed via semi-structured interview in later childhood/early adolescence and in young adulthood.
At each time of data collection, participants were interviewed about their mood. Once children entered middle school, they were asked additional questions about alcohol use.
Participants
During the initial data collection, participants included 2,311 first grade students from 19 elementary schools in an urban, mid-Atlantic region of the United States.
During the second time point, data were collected from 1,092 students (mean age = 10.0 years).
At the third time point, data were collected from 1,920 participants (mean age = 21 years). Of these participants, 50% were male, 69% Black, 55% had qualified for subsidized lunch in school, and 39% were classified as having high conduct problems in school.
Limitations
The assessment of depressed mood in children was done via questionnaires instead of clinical interviews, which may have limited how accurately symptoms of depression were assessed.
The measure of alcohol use was stringent and may have excluded individuals with milder forms of this problem.
There was significant attrition over time and it is unclear how this attrition may have impacted the findings.
Avenues for Future Research
Extend the time period studied to see how these findings translate into later adulthood
Explore the trajectories of youth with high levels of anxiety, including possible increased risks for substance use and abuse
Conduct longitudinal studies on depressed mood among military youth
Focus
Civilian
Target Population
Population Focus
Abstract
Context: Despite prior evidence supporting crosssectional associations of depression and alcohol use disorders, there is relatively little prospective data on the temporal association between depressed mood and maladaptive drinking, particularly across extended intervals. Objective: To assess the association between depressed mood in childhood and alcohol use during adolescence and young adulthood by mood level and sex and race/ethnicity subgroups. Design: Cohort study of individuals observed during late childhood, early adolescence, and young adulthood. Setting: Urban mid-Atlantic region of the United States. Participants: Two successive cohorts of students from 19 elementary schools have been followed up since entry into first grade (1985, cohort I [n=1196]; 1986, cohort II [n=1115]). The students were roughly equally divided by sex (48% female) and were predominantly African American (70%). Between 1989 and 1994, annual assessments were performed on students remaining in the public school system, and between 2000 and 2001, approximately 75% participated in an interview at young adulthood (n=1692). Main Outcome Measures: Among participants who reported having used alcohol, Cox and multinomial regression analyses were used to assess the association of childhood mood level, as measured by a depression symptom screener, with each alcohol outcome (incident alcohol intoxication, incident alcohol- related problems, and DSM-IV alcohol abuse and dependence). Results: In adjusted regression analyses among those who drank alcohol, a high level of childhood depressed mood was associated with an earlier onset and increased risk of alcohol intoxication, alcohol-related problems during late childhood and early adolescence, and development of DSM-IV alcohol dependence in young adulthood. Conclusions: Early manifestations associated with possible depressive conditions in childhood helped predict and account for subsequent alcohol involvement extending across life stages from childhood through young adulthood.
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