| dc.description.abstract | This project explored the predictive relations of depressive disorders with anxiety, externalizing, and substance use disorders. These relations were examined in both directions (i.e., odds of depression given prior anxiety; odds of anxiety given prior depression). Participants were 240 children assessed for psychopathology in sixth grade and then annually through 12th grade. Adolescents varied in risk for depression based on their mothers having a history of depressive disorders (high-risk, n=185) or no history of psychiatric diagnoses (low risk, n=55). For girls, the rates of depressive disorders were high regardless of prior anxiety disorders, whereas for boys, those with prior anxiety were more than three times as likely to have subsequent depression compared to boys with no prior anxiety, controlling for risk (OR = 3.33, p <.05). For boys, the rates of externalizing disorders were elevated regardless of prior depression, whereas for girls, those with prior threshold depressive disorders were about one and half times as likely to have a subsequent externalizing disorder compared to girls with no prior threshold depression, controlling for risk (OR = 1.64, p < .05). Girls with prior substance use disorders were over 3 times more likely to have a subsequent diagnosis of a depressive disorder, controlling for risk (OR = 3.36, p < .05). Temporal comorbidity of anxiety, externalizing, and substance disorders with depression varied by gender. The results have implications for early detection of vulnerable individuals who may be targeted for prevention and intervention efforts. | |
