Childhood Psychiatric Problems May Lead to Difficulties in Adulthood

Children with mental health issues appear to be more likely to have serious problems that make it more difficult to lead successful lives in adulthood, a new study suggests.

Researchers at Duke University Medical Center found children who had a diagnosed psychiatric condition such as depression, anxiety or substance abuse were six times more likely than children with no mental health issues to have difficulties in adulthood including addictions, criminal charges, early pregnancies, education failures, residential instability and problems getting or keeping a job.

Children with more minor mental health problems that affected their daily life had three times the risk of experiencing difficulties in adulthood. Adult problems were more likely even in children whose mental health issues did not persist beyond childhood, Fox News reports.

The study involved 1,420 children ages 9 to 16 who were assessed on up to six occasions for common psychiatric diagnoses, as well as more minor mental health issues. The researchers followed up with 1,273 of them between the ages of 19 to 26.

Almost 80 percent of participants who had health, legal, financial or social difficulties in young adulthood had mental health issues in childhood, the researchers report in JAMA Psychiatry.

“The effects of childhood problems persist even if the problems themselves do not, and this persistence was seen for problems that don’t meet conventional thresholds for mental illness,” lead study author William Copeland said. “Both primary findings surprised me.”

“When it comes to key psychiatric problems — depression, anxiety, behavior disorders — there are successful interventions and prevention programs,” Copeland said in a news release. “So we do have the tools to address these, but they aren’t implemented widely. The burden is then later seen in adulthood, when these problems become costly public health and social issues.”