Search

Objective: To assess the value of maternal and self-ratings of adolescent depression by investigating the extent to which these reports predicted a range of mental health and functional outcomes 4 years later. The potential influence of mother's own depressed mood on her ratings of adolescent depression and suicidal ideation on adolescent outcome was also tested.Method: A longitudinal population-based study of 842 adolescents ages 11 to 16 at the baseline assessment and 15 to 20 at follow-up (62% retention).Results: Both mother- and adolescent-rated depressive symptoms predicted future depression, antisocial behavior, impairment, health service use, and regular tobacco use in the adolescent. The odds ratios obtained for maternal and adolescent ratings of depressive symptoms as predictors of future psychopathology were not significantly different. Mothers' own depressive symptoms were not significantly associated with adolescent depression, health service use, or substance use at follow-up. Depression that was accompanied by adolescent-rated suicidal thoughts was significantly more strongly associated with impairment at follow-up than depression alone.Conclusions: It is possible to obtain clinically useful information on adolescent depression from the child's mother. However, information on suicidal ideation was rarely endorsed by mothers, suggesting that maternal report of adolescent suicidal thoughts shows less sensitivity than adolescent report. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Almost everything known about risk factors for homelessness is based on cross-sectional studies of non-random samples. Furthermore, most studies have focused on a small number of risk factors and have not evaluated their relative importance. Our aim was to examine which factors, in a population-based sample of adolescents, independently predict homelessness in young adults., Methods: Participants (n = 10,433) in the US National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) were initially selected through systematic random sampling of US high schools. Interviews were conducted at home in 1994-1995 when the participants were 11-18 years of age and again in 2001 when participants were 18-28 years of age. We examined the relationships between a range of risk factors reported in adolescence (mood-related problems, substance involvement, delinquency, personality, quality of family relations, neighborhood quality, school adjustment, religious affiliation, perpetration of violence, and experiences of victimization) and experiences of homelessness reported in young adulthood, using regression analysis., Results: Each risk factor predicted homelessness. However, only family relationship quality (odds ratio [OR] = .79, 95% confidence interval [CI] = .69-.90), school adjustment problems (OR = 1.57, 95% CI = 1.35-1.82), and experiences of victimization (OR = 1.27, 95% CI = 1.11-1.45) were found to independently predict homelessness., Conclusions: Among a range of well-established risk factors, a troubled family background, school adjustment problems and experiences of victimization were found to be the strongest predictors of homelessness in a general population of young people. Our findings suggest possibilities for the early identification of young persons at risk for homelessness through schools, agencies offering family-based support, and clinical services.