Factors associated with depressive symptoms among 18-year-old boys: a prospective 10-year follow-up study

BACKGROUND: The aim is to study associative and predictive factors for self-reported depressive symptoms among 18-year-old boys. METHODS: The participants in this community-based 10-year follow-up study consisted of 2348 boys born during 1981. At baseline, three informant sources were used: parents, teachers, and the children themselves. At follow-up, self-report questionnaires were used to study boys' family factors, life events, adaptive functioning, and substance use. Depressive symptoms at age 18 were established using Beck's Depression Inventory (BDI). RESULTS: Poor adaptive functioning within family and in education, having fewer than two close friends, somatic health problems, and using illicit drugs were all independently associated with a high level of depressive symptoms in the cross-sectional data at age 18. Self-reported depressive symptoms (Children's Depression Inventory, CDI) at age 8 independently predicted an increased number of depressive symptoms 10 years later. LIMITATIONS: Only self-reported questionnaires were used at follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: The high association between depressive symptoms at age 8 and at age 18 gives grounds for paying special attention to children's own intimations of distress already in the early school years. Using self-report screening questionnaires in school health care may help identify children's depressive symptoms.