Anxiety and Depression During Childhood and Adolescence: Testing Theoretical Models of Continuity and Discontinuity

Authors

Joseph R. Cohen, University of Illinois Urbana-ChampaignFollow
Arthur R. Andrews, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Megan M. Davis, University of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignFollow
Karen D. Rudolph, University of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignFollow

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

2018

Citation

Published in Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology (2018).
doi 10.1007/s10802-017-0370-x

PMID: 29256025

Comments

Copyright © 2017 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC. Used by permission.

Abstract

The present study sought to clarify the trajectory (i.e., continuous vs. discontinuous) and expression (i.e., homotypic vs. heterotypic) of anxiety and depressive symptoms across childhood and adolescence. We utilized a state-of-the-science analytic approach to simultaneously test theoretical models that describe the development of internalizing symptoms in youth. In a sample of 636 children (53% female; M age = 7.04; SD age = 0.35) self-report measures of anxiety and depression were completed annually by youth through their freshman year of high school. For both anxiety and depression, a piecewise growth curve model provided the best fit for the data, with symptoms decreasing until age 12 (the “developmental knot”) and then increasing into early adolescence. The trajectory of anxiety symptoms was best described by a discontinuous homotypic pattern in which childhood anxiety predicted adolescent anxiety. For depression, two distinct pathways were discovered: A discontinuous homotypic pathway in which childhood depression predicted adolescent depression and a discontinuous heterotypic pathway in which childhood anxiety predicted adolescent depression. Analytical, methodological, and clinical implications of these findings are discussed.