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From childhood to adult age: 18-year longitudinal results and prediction of the course of mental disorders in the community

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Abstract

Objective

This prospective longitudinal study of a representative community sample of children and adolescents (N = 269) examined the long-term course and predictive power of psychiatric symptoms in childhood/adolescence for diagnostic outcome (ICD-10) 18 years later at adult age.

Method

At both cross-sectional assessments, baseline (1980–1984) and the 18-year follow-up (2001–2004), psychiatric symptoms were assessed using the ‘Standardized Psychiatric Interview’ (Goldberg et al. in Br J Prev Soc Med 24:18–23, 1970). At follow-up, study participants were reassessed with the standardized M-CIDI (Wittchen and Pfister in Manual und Durchführungsbeschreibung des DIA-X-M-CIDI, Swets and Zeitlinger, Frankfurt, 1997) interview.

Results

The participation rate at 18-year follow-up was 82% of those alive. The frequency of clinically relevant depressive symptoms and symptoms of anxiety or phobia was considerably higher when the participants were younger (baseline assessment at childhood, adolescent age) as compared to their scores in adult age. Increased levels of somatic symptoms, fatigue, irritability, sleep disturbances, depression, anxiety and worry as well as phobic symptoms in childhood/adolescence were related to a higher risk of suffering from a psychiatric disorder in adulthood. Depressive symptoms predicted both mood disorders and substance use disorders in adulthood. Phobias predicted later anxiety disorders.

Conclusion

These data spanning almost two decades add significant information to the existing literature on the course of mental disorders in the community during the transition from adolescence to adulthood.

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Notes

  1. All data presented here are from the baseline assessment or from the 18-year follow up. In addition a cross-sectional assessment with limited number of instruments was performed in the mid-1970 s [13] but data are not considered here except the variables “mother completed vocational training” and “mental disturbance in other family members.”

  2. Due to the fact that the first wave of the longitudinal study was assessed in the late 1970’s the SPI-Interview developed by Goldberg et al. [19] was used at all three cross-sections; the diagnostic interview schedule (DIS) was not yet available at the beginning of the study.

  3. This interview should not be confused with the ‘General Health Questionnaire’ (GHQ) also published by David Goldberg.

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Acknowledgments

This research was funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Bonn, Germany, grant number Fi 333/4-1, Fi 333/4-2. We especially thank Dipl.-Psych. Eva Bolz, Dr. Marian Cebulla, Dipl.-Psych. Helen Castellanos, Dipl.-Psych. Andrea Dusold, Dipl.-Psych. Andreas Hampel, Dr. Gabriele Kohlböck, Dr. Thomas Niedermeier, Dipl.-Psych. Birgit Schaider, Dipl.-Psych. Nicole Sevignani and Dipl.-Psych. Nadia Sosnowsky for their sensitive way of conducting interviews with the participants of the 18-year follow-up. We also thank Susanne Hedlund (PhD) for helping to improve the formulation of this manuscript and the editor and reviewers who helped to improve the quality of the paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. of Psychiatry, University of Munich, Munich, Germany

    Manfred M. Fichter MD., Dipl.-Psych, Gabriele Kohlboeck PhD & Norbert Quadflieg Dipl.-Psych

  2. Klinik Roseneck affiliated with the University of Munich, Am Roseneck 6, 83209, Prien, Germany

    Manfred M. Fichter MD., Dipl.-Psych

  3. Dept. of Psychology, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany

    Anne Wyschkon Dipl.-Psych & Günter Esser PhD., Dipl.-Psych

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  1. Manfred M. Fichter MD., Dipl.-Psych
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  2. Gabriele Kohlboeck PhD
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  3. Norbert Quadflieg Dipl.-Psych
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  4. Anne Wyschkon Dipl.-Psych
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  5. Günter Esser PhD., Dipl.-Psych
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Correspondence to Manfred M. Fichter MD., Dipl.-Psych.

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Fichter, M.M., Kohlboeck, G., Quadflieg, N. et al. From childhood to adult age: 18-year longitudinal results and prediction of the course of mental disorders in the community. Soc Psychiat Epidemiol 44, 792–803 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-009-0501-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-009-0501-y

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