The proposed study will trace the development of psychopathology and protective factors from early childhood to age 30, building on prospectively collected data from a single-age cohort in one of the longest ongoing child mental health studies in the U.S., covering a span from ages 5-26. Age 30, the time of entry into true adulthood, is a critical period when demands of work, intimate relationships, and parenting converge. Risk and protective factors from childhood and adolescence can influence the continuity, remission, and resistance to disorder. Past and current disorder can impact adult functioning in the areas of work, relationships, and parenting.
The specific aims of the study are to: (1) trace multiple childhood and adolescent behavioral, environmental and family factors hypothesized to constitute risks for disorders, their continuity through age 30, and the subsequent toll of disorder on adult functioning; (2) assess the extent of lifetime comorbidity of disorders, particularly the co-occurrence of substance use disorders with other psychiatric disorders and the sequencing of onset of disorders and (3) identify early childhood and adolescent behavioral, environmental, and family factors protecting groups at risk for major psychiatric disorders and suicidal behavioral from developing those disorders or attempting suicide. In 2002, 365 (97%) of adults interviewed in 1998 will complete an in- person interview containing measures of selected DSM-IV disorders, occupational, interpersonal, behavioral, and family functioning, parenting, health, self-esteem and mastery, social support, and mental health services used. Partners of respondents will be interviewed to provide information on the respondents' occupational and behavioral functioning, the partner relationship, children (if any), and personal history of disorder. Mothers of respondents will complete a mailed questionnaire reporting (as in previous waves) on the respondents' occupational, behavioral and family functioning. Hypotheses with both a theoretical and empirical basis will be examined using discrete-time survival analysis, random effects models, generalized estimating equations and structural equation models. Results will have direct application to mental health interventions for prevention and treatment of mental disorders.
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