Anxiety and Depression from Childhood to Young Adulthood: Trajectories and Risk Factors.

This study aimed to (1) evaluate how population levels of anxiety and depression grow and correlate from middle childhood through early adulthood, and (2) determine whether sex, family socioeconomic status, parental education, academic achievement, learning disabilities, or externalizing symptoms predict anxiety and/or depression levels and growth trajectory. We used two longitudinal samples (N = 445, 448) of Portuguese children. Mean depression levels increased from mid-childhood through adolescence before stabilizing in early adulthood and were most strongly predicted by academic achievement and learning disabilities.