A LONGITUDINAL LOOK AT THE RELATION BETWEEN DEPRESSION AND ANXIETY INCHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS

Elementary school students (n = 330) and their parents (n = 228) parti cipated in a 3-year longitudinal study of the temporal relation betwee n anxiety and depressive symptoms in children. Every 6 months, childre n and parents completed depression and anxiety questionnaires for a to tal of 6 waves. Structural equation modeling revealed that individual differences on all measures were remarkably stable over time. Neverthe less, high levels of anxiety symptoms at 1 point in time predicted hig h levels of depressive symptoms at subsequent points in time even afte r controlling for prior levels of depression symptoms. These findings were consistent across self-and parent reports. Results support the te mporal hypothesis that anxiety leads to depression in children and ado lescents.