Journal Article

Eight-year incidence of psychiatric disorders and service use from adolescence to early adulthood: longitudinal follow-up of the Mexican Adolescent Mental Health Survey

Curiel, Teresa, Casanova, Leticia, Medina-Mora, María Elena, Borges, Guilherme, Orozco, Ricardo, Fleiz, Clara, Benjet, Corina, Méndez, Enrique, Albor, Yesica

2016

Overview

Half of mental disorders have their first onset before adulthood when the presence of a disorder may be particularly disruptive to developmental milestones. Retrospective prevalence estimates have been shown to underestimate the burden of mental illness and scarce data are available on the incidence of disorders throughout the adolescent period, especially in developing countries. Thus, the objective was to determine the incidence of mental disorders in an 8-year period from adolescence to young adulthood, onset of service use and their predictors in a Mexican cohort. 1071 respondents from a representative two-wave panel sample participated in the Mexican Adolescent Mental Health Survey in 2005 and in the follow-up survey in 2013. Disorders were evaluated with the World Mental Health Composite International Diagnostic Interview. 37.9 % experienced the onset of a psychiatric disorder and 28.4 % sought services for the first time. Substance use disorders had the greatest incidence, followed by mood and behavior disorders, anxiety disorders and lastly eating disorders. Sex, age, school dropout, childhood adversities and prior mental disorders predicted the onset of new disorders. Being female, having more educated parents and most classes of disorder predicted first time service use. These findings contribute to a paradigm shift in conceptions of mental disorder similar to how we think of common physical afflictions as near universal experiences across the life course, but less frequent at any given moment. Adolescents are particularly vulnerable. Therefore, public health policy should focus on early universal promotion of positive mental health and structural determinants of mental health.

• Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg,Springer Nature B.V
• Subject: Adolescent / Adolescent Health Services - utilization / Adolescents / Adult / Adults / Age / Alcohol / Anxiety / Anxiety disorders / Anxiety Disorders - diagnosis / Behavior disorders / Child & adolescent mental health / Child and Adolescent Psychiatry / Child development / Childhood / Children / Children & youth / Developing countries / Disorders / Dropping out / Drug use / Eating disorders / Emotions / Female / First time / Follow-Up Studies / Health care policy / Health education / Health promotion / Health services / Health Surveys / Humans / Incidence / Industrialized nations / LDCs / Life course / Longitudinal Studies / Male / Medicine / Medicine & Public Health / Mental disorders / Mental Disorders - diagnosis / Mental Disorders - epidemiology / Mental Disorders - psychology / Mental Disorders - therapy / Mental Health / Mental health care / Mental health promotion / Mental health services / Mental Health Services - utilization / Mexican people / Mexico - epidemiology / Mood / Original Contribution / Polls & surveys / Prevalence / Promotion / Psychiatric Status Rating Scales / Psychiatry / Psychopathology / Psychopathology - methods / Public health / Respondents / Retrospective Studies / Service provision / Severity of Illness Index / Socioeconomic Factors / Studies / Substance abuse / Substance use disorder / Substance-Related Disorders - psychology / Surveys and Questionnaires / Teenagers / Young Adult / Young adults