Thirty years' follow-up of depressive adolescents: A preliminary report

Abstract

Aims and Objectives: The purpose of the study was to describe the consequences of adolescent depression in adults. The history of health problems and the choice of career were selected as indicators of the nature of depressive syndromes experienced in adolescence. Since the 1970s, adolescent depression is seen as related to a developmental crisis or a form of affective disorder. Materials and Methods: The method employed for this baseline study was screening school-age children. A sample of children from different schools and different backgrounds were screened with the Krakow Depression Inventory (KID) in 1985. A follow-up study was performed 15 years later and a second follow-up study 30 years later. The follow-up questionnaires were devised by authors of the original study and sent out to the baseline sample by post. A preliminary analysis of the responses to the second follow-up study is presented. Results: The results showed that there were no significant differences between adults who had depression in adolescence and their non-depressive peers. Discussion: Conducting the follow-up assessments remotely by post was found to have limitations, as there was a small number of replies received, which has limited the significance of our findings. Nevertheless, it was found that the differences between life health histories of the group studied and that of a non depressive peer group were negligible or none. Conclusions: The results of this long-term prospective study support the hypothesis of a developmental character of adolescent depression.