BC Council for Families

by Ruby Banga
Program Coordinator, BC Council for Families

New research from Concordia University suggests there may be a link between adolescent stress and a greater chance of developing a serious mood disorder such as depression in early adulthood.

New research from Concordia University suggests there may be a link between adolescent stress and a greater chance of developing a serious mood disorder such as depression in early adulthood.

Mark Ellenbogen, a professor at the Concordia Centre for Research in Human Development, believes that stress is a major contributor to the rise in depression, which is a growing public health problem that the World Health Organization has identified as affecting about 121 million people worldwide.

In the study, children living in families where at least one parent is affected by a mood disorder had their saliva tested for levels of cortisol. "Cortisol is something you secrete when faced with situations that are hard to deal with or challenging situations beyond your ability to cope," Ellenbogen said. Children from at-risk families had higher levels of cortisol which seemed to persist into adulthood.

The team has been following 150 children age 4 to 12 for a decade, half with parents without mental health issues, the other half with at least one parent with bipolar disorder. What Ellenbogen found is a link between high levels of stress and cortisol in the early environment and a correlation with later depression.

But parenting style had much to do with reducing the stress of life events and early hormone secretion. Children from homes with lots of stress combined with chaotic parenting - inconsistent eating and sleeping habits, job loss, hospitalization, marital distress or divorce - showed higher levels of stress and cortisol. Children from homes with lower stress, a better parental structure and consistent organization showed normal hormone levels.