Understanding Adolescent Depression
Research type
Research Study
Full title
In search of bio-psycho-social markers for the recurrence of adolescent depression
IRAS ID
274402
Contact name
Niamh MacSweeney
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Edinburgh
Duration of Study in the UK
4 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Title: In search of bio-psycho-social factors in the recurrence of adolescent depression.
Background: Depression is the leading cause of illness and disability in youth; over half of depression cases emerge before the age of 25 It is a highly recurrent condition that predicts lifelong risk for mental and physical illness. However, the mechanisms underlying this observed vulnerability to depression during adolescence remain unclear. Thus, an “explanatory gap” exists in our ability to predict who will become depressed, when, and why, during this period of development. Particularly, there is a dearth of research that holistically examines the factors that may indicate risk towards depression.
Aims: This study aims to identify biological, cognitive, and psychosocial markers of vulnerability for depression during adolescence by recruiting adolescents with and without a history of depression. We are hoping to firstly identify the factors that differentiate adolescents who have experienced depressive symptoms from those who have not, and secondly, ascertain whether the above risk and resilience factors can predict those who will develop further episodes of depression compared to those who will remain well.
Design: 80 adolescents (aged 16-25 years) with a recent history of depression and 80 age-matched adolescents without a personal history of depression will be recruited through the community and NHS services. They will complete tasks including a clinical psychiatric interview, a psycho-social questionnaire battery, computer-based cognitive tasks, and they will also be asked to provide two biological samples (saliva for DNA-analysis, and hair for cortisol analysis). Participants will complete an online follow-up questionnaire battery 3 times over the next 18 months. Participants will also be asked to consent for the research team to access their GP and health care records so that we can follow their health over the next 10 years. Data collection will take place at the University of Edinburgh.
REC name
West of Scotland REC 4
REC reference
20/WS/0003
Date of REC Opinion
20 Jan 2020
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion