Life Transition Events and Depressive Symptom Trajectories During Young Adulthood: The Influence of Adverse Family and Individual Contexts in Adolescence

Abstract

Because sequential patterns of multiple transition events (i.e., college graduation, full-time employment, marriage, and parenthood) are associated with turning points in depressive symptom trajectories during young adulthood, the present study used a sample of 446 White adolescents (52.3% females; 15.58 years old, on average) over 18 years (1992 to 2010) to (a) identify distinct longitudinal joint processes between these sequential patterns of life transition events and turning points of depressive symptom trajectories by using a person-centered modeling approach and (b) investigate the influence of adverse family and individual contexts (negative family economic events, hostile relationships with parents, and impulsive sensation seeking) in adolescence on these longitudinal joint processes. We identified six longitudinal joint processes: (a) traditional transition pattern with no turning points in depressive symptom trajectories, (b) traditional transition pattern with turning points in depressive symptom trajectories in the mid-to-late 20s, (c) early parenthood transition pattern with no turning points in depressive symptom trajectories, (d) early parenthood transition pattern with turning points in depressive symptom trajectories in the mid-to-late 20s, (e) precocious transition pattern with no turning points in depressive symptom trajectories, and (f) precocious transition pattern with depressive symptom turning points (or fluctuations) throughout young adulthood. Negative family economic events, hostile relationships with parents, and impulsive sensation seeking in adolescence influenced these longitudinal joint processes. Hostile relationships with parents also uniquely influenced turning points in depressive symptoms during young adulthood while impulsive sensation seeking uniquely influence sequential patterns of life transition events. Clinical implications are discussed.