The impact of life events and chronic stressors on the development of depressive disorders, anxiety disorders and conduct disorders in adolescence: Results of a longitudinal study

The impact of adverse life events and chronic stressors on the development of selected internalizing and externalizing psychiatric disorders in adolescence was examined in a longitudinal study. Data from 489 Ss, 304 females and 185 males, aged between 12 and 17 years, were collected at two occasions from 1996 to 1998 (retest 15 months later), in the framework of the Bremen Youth Study (Petermann & Essau, 1995). The occurrence of life events and chronic stressors were assessed with the help of the "Bremer Ereignisliste" (Bremen Life Event List; BEL), asking for 55 positive, adverse and neutral life events in different life areas. Depressive disorders, anxiety disorders and conduct disorders were assumed with the DSM-IV-Version of the Munich Composite Diagnostic Interview (M-CIDI) and additional inventories. Using logistic regression analysis, we determined a significant association between current symptoms and negative life events (retrospective design). In our longitudinal design, however, life events did not independently predict depressive, anxiety or conduct disorders. Our results stress, that moderating factors in the context of life events are important, if not even play a more crucial role in the formation of affective and behavioral disorders in adolescence.