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Childhood emotional symptom trajectories in three generationally and socio-ethnically distinct UK birth cohorts
medRxiv · · Preprint · Open access
Fairweather, Kwong + 4 more
Abstract ↗AI summary
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Across three UK birth cohorts (ALSPAC N=11,025; MCS N=15,446; BiB N=6,711), high-level emotional symptom trajectories affected 6–7% of children and differed by cohort age-pattern.
- Why it matters: Depression and anxiety symptoms begin early, but it is unclear whether emotional symptom patterns persist similarly across generations and socio-ethnic contexts in the UK.
- What they did: Using group-based trajectory modeling from ages 3–14, the study characterized trajectory groups by sex, ethnicity, maternal depression/anxiety, and IMD quintile, and in ALSPAC linked trajectories to diagnoses at 24 and 30 years.
- The result: In MCS and BiB, high-level symptoms started high and persisted, while in ALSPAC they started low and increased; mid- and high-level trajectories predicted depression/anxiety diagnoses in early adulthood in ALSPAC.
The findingWhy it mattersWhat they didThe result
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