| Abstract: | This longitudinal study of adolescents from a Nova Scotia coastal town examined whether change in self-reported depressive symptoms could be predicted from adolescents' concurrent and prior reports of anxiety symptoms and risk behaviors. Questionnaires were completed by 131 youths (80 females, 51 males; aged 12–17 yrs) in their classrooms 2 years apart. Results show that adolescents' concurrent reports of involvement in risk behaviors were linked to an increase in depressive symptoms only when they also were high on anxiety symptoms. Prior involvement in risk behaviors, but not prior anxiety symptoms, also predicted an increase in depressive symptoms. The importance of evaluating covariation among multiple types of symptoms and targeting the positive and negative consequences of risk behaviors adolescents is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
