Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Comparative Study
. 2015 Feb;45(3):505-14.
doi: 10.1017/S0033291714001640. Epub 2014 Jul 10.

Age of onset and course of major depressive disorder: associations with psychosocial functioning outcomes in adulthood

S Wilson  1 , B M Hicks  2 , K T Foster  3 , M McGue  1 , W G Iacono  1
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Age of onset and course of major depressive disorder: associations with psychosocial functioning outcomes in adulthood

S Wilson et al. Psychol Med. 2015 Feb.

Abstract

Background: Major depressive disorder (MDD) that onsets by adolescence is associated with various deficits in psychosocial functioning. However, adolescent-onset MDD often follows a recurrent course that may drive its associated impairment.

Method: To tease apart these two clinical features, we examined the relative associations of age of onset (adolescent versus adult) and course (recurrent versus single episodes) of MDD with a broad range of psychosocial functioning outcomes assessed in early adulthood. Participants comprised a large, population-based sample of male and female twins from the Minnesota Twin Family Study (MTFS; n = 1252) assessed prospectively from ages 17 to 29 years.

Results: A recurrent course of MDD predicted impairment in several psychosocial domains in adulthood, regardless of whether the onset was in adolescence or adulthood. By contrast, adolescent-onset MDD showed less evidence of impairment in adulthood after accounting for recurrence. Individuals with both an adolescent onset and recurrent episodes of MDD represented a particularly severe group with pervasive psychosocial impairment in adulthood.

Conclusions: The negative implications of adolescent-onset MDD for psychosocial functioning in adulthood seem to be due primarily to its frequently recurrent course, rather than its early onset, per se. The results highlight the importance of considering both age of onset and course for understanding MDD and its implications for functioning, and also in guiding targeted intervention efforts.

Keywords: Adolescence; age of onset; major depressive disorder; psychosocial functioning; recurrence.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Mean effect sizes (Cohen’s ds) across psychosocial functioning variables assessed in adulthood (age 29) for each MDD group relative to the never depressed group.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Bemmels HR, Burt SA, Legrand LN, Iacono WG, McGue M. The heritability of life events: An adolescent twin and adoption study. Twin Research and Human Genetics. 2008;11:257–265. - PubMed
    1. Billig JP, Hershberger SL, Iacono WG, McGue M. Life events and personality in late adolescence: Genetic and environmental relations. Behavior Genetics. 1996;26:543–554. - PubMed
    1. Bland RC, Newman SC, Orn H. Recurrent and nonrecurrent depression. A family study. Archives of General Psychiatry. 1986;43:1085–1089. - PubMed
    1. Bulloch AG, Williams JV, Lavorato DH, Patten SB. The relationship between major depression and marital disruption is bidirectional. Depression and Anxiety. 2009;26:1172–1177. - PubMed
    1. Cohen J. Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences. Erlbaum; Hillsdale, NJ: 1988.

Publication types