Browsing by Author "Tikanto, Maiju"

Objectives: Late-life depression is underdiagnosed and undertreated, and more information about its specific risk factors and mechanisms is needed. Early life stress has been shown to predict depressive symptoms in adults as well as a poor course of depression; it is unclear, however, whether this association is still present in older adults. The present study investigated how emotional and physical stress in childhood predicted depressive symptoms in Finns who were older than 60 years. Depressive symptoms were selfrated at two separate measurement points. The effect of neuroticism as a mediator was also examined. Methods: The study sample was a subsample of Helsinki Birth Cohort Study, which consists of 13,345 subjects born in Helsinki in 1934–1944. The sample included those subjects who completed the Traumatic Experiences Checklist (TEC) and either Neuroticism-Extraversion-Openness Personality Inventory (NEO-PI) or Beck Depression Inventory II (BDI-II) in either 2004 or 2010. Sample size varied between 764–1332, depending on the analysis. Linear and logistic regression as well as mediation analyses were used to analyze the data. Results and conclusions: Both types of early life stress were shown to predict more depressive symptoms and higher risk of clinically significant depressive symptoms at both measurement points. High neuroticism mediated the relationship between early life stress and depressive symptoms. Contrary to hypothesis, early life stress did not predict the duration of depressive symptoms. The results indicate that early life stress plays a role in late-life depression, and this effect is mediated by neuroticism.