Psychology Commons^™

Life Stressors And Resources And The 23-Year Course Of Depression, Ruth Cronkite, Erin Woodhead, Andrea Finlay, Christine Timko, Kirsten Hu, Rudolf Moos

Faculty Publications

Background Life stressors and personal and social resources are associated with depression in the short-term, but little is known about their associations with the long-term course of depression. The current paper presents results of a 23-year study of community adults who were receiving treatment for depression at baseline (N=382). Methods Semi-parametric group-based modeling was used to identify depression trajectories and determine baseline predictors of belonging to each trajectory group. Results There were three distinct courses of depression: high severity at baseline with slow decline, moderate severity at baseline with rapid decline, and low severity at baseline with rapid …