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. 2024 Jun;59(6):899-915.
doi: 10.1007/s00127-023-02527-8. Epub 2023 Jul 10.

An integrative literature review of birth cohort and time period trends in adolescent depression in the United States

Melanie S Askari  1 , Daniel W Belsky  2 , Mark Olfson  3 , Joshua Breslau  4 , Ramin Mojtabai  5 , Sandhya Kajeepeta  2 , Emilie Bruzelius  2 , Katherine M Keyes  2
Affiliations

An integrative literature review of birth cohort and time period trends in adolescent depression in the United States

Melanie S Askari et al. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol. 2024 Jun.

Abstract

Purpose: The aim of this literature review is to examine evidence of time trends and birth cohort effects in depressive disorders and symptoms among US adolescents in peer-reviewed articles from January 2004 to April 2022.

Methods: We conducted an integrative systematic literature review. Three reviewers participated at different stages of article review. Of the 2234 articles identified in three databases (Pubmed, ProQuest Central, Ebscohost), 10 met inclusion criteria (i.e., adolescent aged United States populations, included information about birth cohort and survey year, focused on depressive symptoms/disorders).

Results: All 10 articles observed increases in depressive symptoms and disorders in adolescents across recent survey years with increases observed between 1991 and 2020. Of the 3 articles that assessed birth cohort trends, birth cohort trends were less prominent than time period trends. Proposed explanations for increases included social media, economic-related reasons, changes in mental health screening and diagnosis, declining mental health stigma, increased treatment, and, in more recent years, the COVID-19 pandemic.

Conclusions: Multiple cross-sectional surveys and cohort studies documented rising prevalence of depressive symptoms and disorder among adolescents from 1991 to 2020. Mechanisms driving this increase are still unknown. Research to identify these mechanisms is needed to inform depression screening and intervention efforts for adolescents.

Keywords: Adolescent depression; Mental health; Psychiatric epidemiology.

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Figures

Figure 1:
Figure 1:
Flowchart of literature review on birth cohort and time trends in adolescent depression in the United States
Figure 2:
Figure 2:
Frequency of proposed explanations for increases in adolescent depression over time in included articles Note: More than one explanation could be selected for each study.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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