Trajectories of depressive symptoms during emerging adulthood: Antecedents and consequences

In order to examine what kinds of trajectories of depressive symptoms young adults show during emerging adulthood, and their antecedents and consequences, 297 university students completed the revised Beck's depression inventory seven times over a 10-year period, and other measures at the beginning and the end of the study. The growth mixture modelling for depressive symptoms ended up in a 3-group solution: 23% of the participants were typified by a low level of symptoms, 61% showed a moderate level, and 16% fell into the third group with high and increasing levels of depressive symptoms during emerging adulthood. Those on the high-depressive trajectory had a poorer quality of relationships, and they reported more pessimistic and avoidant strategies at the beginning of the study than the others. Moreover, later on, they suffered more from burnout, earned less, and used more dysfunctional strategies.