Depression and anxiety in childhood and adolescence: Developmental pathways, genes and environment

Abstract

Depression and anxiety are amongst the most common mental health problems experienced in the general population (Kessler et al., 1994). It is now well established that these traits and disorders often have their origins in childhood. Nevertheless, relatively little is known about which etiological factors are important, how risk factors work together and what are the mechanisms that lead to depression and anxiety. In the last 15 years, there has been a large increase in epidemiological and behavior genetic research on childhood depression and anxiety. In this chapter we review the evidence from this research and highlight new directions for future research.