J Korean Acad Community Health Nurs.  2022 Sep;33(3):299-311. 10.12799/jkachn.2022.33.3.299.

Latent Classes of Depressive Symptom Trajectories of Adolescents and Determinants of Classes

• Kim E

• KMID: 2533941
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.12799/jkachn.2022.33.3.299

Abstract

Purpose
Untreated depression in adolescents affects their entire life. It is important to detect and intervene early depression in adolescence considering the characteristics of adolescent’s depressive symptoms accompanied by internalization and externalization. The aim of this study was to identify latent classes of depressive symptom trajectories of adolescents and determinants of classes in Korea.
Methods
The three time-point (2018~2020) data derived from the Korean Children and Youth Panel Survey 2018 were used (N=2,325). Latent Growth Curve Modeling (LGCM) was conducted to explore the depressive symptom trajectories in all adolescents, and Latent Class Growth Modeling (LCGM) was conducted to identify each latent class. Multinomial logistic regression analysis was performed to confirm the determinants of each latent class.
Results
The LGCM results showed that there was no statistically significant change in all adolescents' depressive symptoms for 3 years. However, the LCGM results showed that four latent classes showing different trajectories were distinguished: 1) Low-stable (intercept=14.39, non-significant slope), 2) moderate-increasing (intercept=19.62, significantly increasing slope), 3) high-stable (intercept=26.30, non-significant slope), and 4) high-rapidly decreasing (intercept=26.34, significantly rapidly decreasing slope). The multinomial logistic regression analysis showed that the significant determinants (i.e., gender, self-esteem, aggression, somatization, peer relationship) of each latent class were different.
Conclusion
When screening adolescent’s depression, it is necessary to monitor not only direct depression symptoms but also self-esteem, aggression, somatization symptoms, and peer relationships. The findings of this study may be valuable for nurses and policy makers to develop mental health programs for adolescents.

Keyword

Adolescent; Depression; Latent class analysis; Longitudinal studies