Anxious Teens May Grow
Up To Be Depressed Adults

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Adolescents who suffer from anxiety disorders are more likely to experience mental health and substance abuse problems as young adults, study findings suggest.

Investigators found that 14- to 16-year-olds who had been diagnosed with anxiety disorders including generalized anxiety, separation anxiety, social phobia and panic disorder were more likely to use illicit drugs, smoke cigarettes, be depressed and have anxiety disorders as young adults.

For instance, about 26% of those who did not have an anxiety disorder in adolescence were diagnosed with major depression in young adulthood, compared with nearly 43% of those with one disorder and nearly 85% of those with at least three anxiety disorders. Similarly, 3% of adolescents without anxiety disorders went on to use illicit drugs, compared with 5.5% of those with one disorder and 19% of those with three or more disorders, the report indicates.

But adolescents who were diagnosed with anxiety disorders were also more likely to come from socially disadvantaged homes characterized by parental change, below-average living standards and low maternal education, suggesting that the diagnosis of an anxiety disorder could be a marker for other risk factors.

``These findings tend to suggest that the elevated rates of these outcomes found among adolescents with anxiety disorders were a consequence of the risk factors and life processes associated with anxiety rather than the direct effects of early-onset anxiety on later life course development,'' according to Dr. Lianne J. Woodward from the University of Canterbury and Dr. David M. Fergusson from the Christchurch School of Medicine in New Zealand.

In some cases, however, the presence of an anxiety disorder in adolescence remained associated with the risk of a disorder and other problems in adulthood, the researchers write in the September issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

The findings underscore the need to screen adolescents for anxiety disorders and provide counseling to those who are at risk, the authors conclude.

The investigators reviewed information on the mental health of 964 children in New Zealand at ages 14 to 16 years and at 16 to 21 years. They also looked at educational achievement, social function, and family and individual risk factors that might predispose individuals to mental health and substance abuse as adults.

SOURCE: Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 2001;40:1086-1093.

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