Young adults who experience suicidal thoughts or depression as teenagers are significantly more likely to report .jpg)
experiencing troubled relationships later in life, new research suggests.
A study published by Child Trends, a US nonpartisan think tank which examines data relating to children and adolescents, showed that depressed or suicidal young adults are more likely to experience sexual and intimate partner violence, and are less likely to establish long-term, fulfilling romantic relationships.
The study looked at data obtained from a sample of 6,763 heterosexual young adults from Add Health (the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health).
It found that, even after after controlling for age, gender, parent education, family structure, family income, and race/ethnicity, young adults who displayed symptoms of moderate-to-severe depressive or suicidal symptoms as teens were had a higher likelihood of reporting violence and sexual infidelity in their romantic relationships.
According to the study, young adults who experienced either isolated or recurring symptoms of depression or suicidal ideation were significantly more likely to report relationship violence in their relationships.
The figures showed that, while those did not show these symptoms in their teenage years had a 20.4pc of reporting violence in their relationships, those who experienced isolated symptoms of depression or suicidal feelings had a 27.4pc chance of experiencing violence in their romantic relationships as young adults.
For those who experienced recurring depressive or suicidal symptoms, there was 26.3pc chance of experiencing violence in their romantic relationships as young adults.
Similarly, young adults who reported symptoms in adolescence were at a higher risk for reporting sexual infidelity in their romantic relationships, whether they reported that they themselves had been unfaithful or whether they had partners who had been unfaithful.
Specifically, young adults who showed isolated symptoms of depression or suicidal thoughts in adolescence were more likely to report sexual infidelity in their romantic relationships.
While those who displayed isolated depressive or suicidal symptoms had a 27pc likelihood of reporting sexual infidelity, and those who displayed such symptoms on a recurring basis had a 26.1pc likelihood of reporting sexual infidelity, those who did not report such symptoms had a 21.2pc of reporting sexual infidelity.