Depressive Symptom Trajectories and Early Adult Education and Employment: Comparing Longitudinal Cohorts in Canada and the United States

Do childhood depressive symptoms interfere with intelligence in adulthood?

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the effects of depressive symptoms in childhood on the intellectual development of young adults.

METHODS

Study conducted with a birth cohort of São Luís, Maranhão, Brazil, composed of 339 participants evaluated between 7 and 9 years and between 18 and 19 years. Structural equation modeling (young adult education, sex, race/color) and childhood variables (nutritional status, depressive symptoms, cognitive function, head of household's and mother's education, family income) were used. In addition, head of household's occupation, mother's age, and presence of partner were tested as determinants of adults' intelligence quotient (IQ).

RESULTS

Presence of depressive symptoms in childhood triggered a reduction of 0.342 in standard deviation (SD) and -3.83 points in the average IQ of adults (p-value < 0.001). Cognitive function in childhood had a total and direct positive effect (standardized coefficient [SC] = 0.701; p-value < 0.001) on IQ, increasing 7.84 points with each increase in level. A positive indirect effect of child nutritional status (SC = 0.194; p-value = 0.045), head of household's (SC = 0.162; p-value = 0.036), and mother's education was identified, the latter mediated by cognitive function in childhood (SC = 0.215; p-value = 0.012) on the IQ of young people.

CONCLUSION

Presence of depressive symptoms in childhood triggered a long-term negative effect on intelligence, reducing the IQ score in adulthood.

Values, Health and Well-Being of Young Europeans Not in Employment, Education or Training (NEET)

Youth unemployment is a problem that undermines young people's health and well-being and is also a concern for their immediate communities and society. Human values predict health-related behaviour; however, this relation is very little studied and not examined earlier among NEET (not in employment, education or training) young people. This study aimed to explore the association between four higher-order human values (conservation, openness to change, self-enhancement, self-transcendence), self-rated health (SRH) and subjective well-being (SW) among NEET young men and women (n = 3842) across European regions. Pooled European Social Survey data from 2010-2018 were used. First, we run linear regression analysis stratified by European socio-cultural regions and gender. Then, multilevel analyses by gender with interactions were performed. The results show expected variation in value profiles across genders and regions and corresponding differences in SRH and SW. Significant associations between values and SRH and SW were found among both genders and across the regions; however, the results did not entirely confirm the expectations about the "healthiness" of specific values. More likely, prevailing values in societies, such as the social norm to work, might shape these associations. This study contributes to a deeper understanding of the factors affecting NEETs' health and well-being.

Work functioning among young adults: the role of mental health problems from childhood to young adulthood

Objectives

Mental health problems (MHPs) during childhood and adolescence are negatively associated with having a paid job in young adulthood. Yet, little is known about how young adults function at work, that is, do they experience difficulties in meeting their job demands given their health state. This longitudinal study aims to examine the impact of MHPs from childhood to young adulthood on young adults’ work functioning (WF).

Methods

Data were used from 1004 participants in the TRacking Adolescents’ Individual Lives Survey, a Dutch prospective cohort study with 18-year follow-up. MHP trajectories, including 11, 13.5, 16, 19, 22 and 26 age points, were identified using growth mixture models. WF was assessed at age 29 with the Work Role Functioning Questionnaire 2.0 (WRFQ). Regression analyses were conducted to examine the association between MHP trajectories and WF.

Results

Young adults with high-stable trajectories of internalising and externalising problems reported lower WF (mean WRFQ scores of 70.5 and 70.7, respectively) than those with low-stable trajectories (78.4 and 77.2), that is, they experience difficulties in meeting the work demands for more than one work day per full-time work week. Young adults with moderate-stable or decreasing MHP trajectories reported lower WF scores compared with those with low-stable trajectories.

Conclusions

Both persistent high and elevated levels of MHPs from childhood to young adulthood are associated with lower WF scores in young adulthood compared with low-level MHPs. Occupational healthcare professionals should support young workers with a history of MHPs to optimise their work functioning.