Pure & Simple Young Adults

Research Article:

Appearing in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine ©2005, an article “Which Comes First in Adolescence—Sex and Drugs or Depression?” written by Denise D. Hallfors, PhD, Martha W. Waller, PhD, Daniel Bauer, PhD, Carol A. Ford, MD, and Carolyn T Halpern, Phd, reports on a study that tested “whether gender-specific patterns of substance use and sexual behavior precede and predict depression or vice versa.”

Data was collected in a National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health which included a sample of:

“13,491 youth, grades 7 to 11, interviewed in 1995 and again 1 year later. Multivariate logistic regression analyses, conducted in 2004, tested temporal ordering, controlling for covariates.  The main outcome measures were depression, as measured by a modified Center for Epidemiological Studies—Depression Scale (CES-D), and three behavior patterns: (1) abstaining from sexual intercourse and drug use, (2) experimental behavior patterns, and (3) high-risk behavior patterns.”

Of note was that results showed that:

“Overall, sex and drug behavior predicted an increased likelihood of depression, but depression did not predict behavior.  Among girls, both experimental and high-risk behavior patterns predicted depression.  Among boys, only high-risk behavior patterns increased the odds of later depression.  Depression did not predict behavior in boys, or experimental behavior in girls; but it decreased the odds of high-risk behavior among abstaining girls (RRR=0.14) and increased the odds of high risk behavior (RRR=2.68) among girls already experimenting with substance use.“

The conclusion determined that behaviors of engaging in sex and using drugs place adolescents, in particular girls, at risk of future depression.  The report states that:

“Future research is needed to better understand the mechanisms of the relationship between adolescent behavior and depression, and to determine whether interventions to prevent or stop risky behaviors will also reduce the risk of later depression.”

(Am J Prev Med 2005; 29(3): 163-170 © American Journal of Preventive Medicine)