Research Proposal

Anxiety and depression in young people

Introduction

The paper tries to explore the major causes of depression and anxiety in many young adults. Over the years, there is an increase in the cases of depression in Canada and the rest of the World making the topic an area of interest. Depressive episodes cause increase in suicide cases among the young people. Therefore, there is a need for correction. The paper will involve a review of the current literature that has been published in the last ten years. The materials that I will explore in the study are peer-reviewed and written by competent authors. The materials in the review are those that provide cases of the cause of depression and anxiety in young adults. The review will not explore materials from websites, dictionaries, and materials based on personal views. Most of the materials reviewed reveals that drug and substance use as the major cause of depression in young people

Body

Mojtabai et al. (2016) tried to explore the major reason for the increase in cases of depression and anxiety among many young adults. In the study, the authors examined data from National surveys on drugs and adolescent health between 2005 and 2015 (Mojtabai et al., 2016). The authors used cross-sectional surveys since the number of participants were high and the researcher used 172495 participants in the study who were between 12 and 17. In the study, the author examined the major trends of depression and anxiety episodes in the last 12 months. The authors did the study on 50 states that were under the Substance Abuse and Mental health Administration. In the study, the authors excluded all those people that were in the military and those that had no permanent home-addresses as well as those that were in the military. Mojtabai et al. (2016) interviewed the computer. Among those people examined, over 85% s said that they experienced episodes of depression and anxiety in the last 12 months. The participants in the study were dependents of alcohol and marijuana in the last 12months. Besides, others suffered from clinical disorders, hence, they were on medications. The researcher also found that the rates of depression and anxiety were equal in both the female and young male adults. However, Mojtabai et al. (2016) did not make comparisons on the impact of the various drugs while causing depression.

Hall et al. (2018) tried to examine the major effects of substance use among many young adults. Earlier authors said that increase in drug and substance use among many adults after completion of school due to desperation, but little research has been to examine the impact of the abuse. The researchers had the major objective of examining the impact of alcohol and tobacco use on psychological and health outcomes on the lives of the individuals. The authors further examined the impact of drug and substance abuse. The researchers examined 133400 participants in cities in the United States and conducted an interview as well as examined their medical records. Among the participants, 85 % said that they had experienced anxiety and depression and anxiety in the last three months while 14% denied. Another 1 % were not sure if they had a depression in the last four months. In the second trial, Hall et al. (2018) found out that children born of drug users had problems in development as compared to other children. The researchers also found out that those that abused alcohol and other illicit drugs had more episodes of depression as compared to those that used tobacco.

Hanson et al. (2015) tried to explore how depression varies among drug users of different ages. The researchers examine the trends of depression among young adults that use drugs. In the study, the researchers used data on drug usage and formulated time-varying effect models. In exploring the data, the authors measured the impact of the use of common drugs like marijuana and tobacco on the lives of the people. Hanson et al. (2015) found out that use of marijuana was the major cause of depression and anxiety among many adult s of 12 to 31 years. Heavy episode drinking only affected young adults. In the bivariate analysis, the researcher found out that the impact of the use of each drug was stronger for males as compared to male counterparts. However, multivariate analysis shows that there were no differences in gender. However, the author did not compare the episodes of depression based on the length of the time that the adults have been using drugs.

Nikolova et al. (2016) conducted a study to examine the impact of alcohol use in causing depression and anxiety among many young adults. In the study, the authors accept that alcohol use has two counteracting impacts; one that promotes positive and another one that causes negative behavior. The authors used a map to classify the differences that occur during the control of the emotions. In the map, the authors used magnetic resonance, and the study involved 729 female graduates who were between 19 and 24 years at Duke Neurogenesis University. In the study, Nikolova et al. (2016) had in mind that alcohol abuse was the major cause of stress; therefore, exhibited negative behavior. The authors also considered people with two stereotypes; a combination of low reward on the ventral striatum and VS activity with the low amygdala. In the end, Nikolova et al. (2016) concluded that UDV risk was the major cause of depression. Besides the author concluded that people with low phenotype reward on the ventral stratum at most times suffered alcohol use disorder, hence, at most times reported anxiety and depression.

Brockie et al. (2015) tried to investigate the impact of exposure to drugs at the pre-adolescent stage on depression and anxiety. In the research, the author conducts the study on several young adults who are between 15 and 24 years. The participants in the study were Native Americans from remote plains. The researcher reached the participants through online questionnaires on the remote plains. In the study, the researchers also analyzed other factors such as neglect, physical abuse, and emotional abuse. The researchers also included those children that suffered major traumatic disorders. The researchers then classified the impacts of each of the factors on a scoreboard. The researcher showed that all four factors had an impact in causing depression. The outcomes showed an increase in depression as follows drug use (67%), neglect (13%), physical abuse (10%) and emotional abuse (10%).

Ruchkin & Schwab-Stone (2015) studies the impact of drug use and depression among students. In the research, the author explored participants between 13 and 19 years. The participants were in the current abuse of drugs. In the research, the authors placed the students’ n depression scale. In the research, the major method of obtaining information was the use of structured questionnaires and interviews. In the end, the researchers found that those teenagers who used marijuana and cigars were at higher symptoms of having depression. Besides those teenagers who had family members on drugs were at a higher risk of having depressions among adolescents in California. Besides, the author identifies that female adults were at risk of having depressions as compare to their male counterparts.

Siennick et al. (2016) surveyed social network data that was collected from students in the sixth grade. The major objective was to find out the internal symptoms and the emotional effects of the study. In the second study, the researchers to conduct the influence of a substance on peer relations. In the study, the researchers used data from 28 schools in Pennsylvania conducted two cohort studies. On the study, the authors highlighted the significance of drug and substance use on the mental health of the person. Besides, in the random effects, Siennick et al. (2015) measured symptoms that were in common among those used a common type of drug. The au authors noted that there were poor relations among those people that used the drugs, Siennick et al. (2015) found out that effects of smoking marijuana increased the cases of depression among students in the same grade. The authors also found that the behavior of the peers was a major cause of depression and anxiety on the students.

Rappeneau and Bérod (2017) conducted a study on the impact of the use of drugs as a major cause of depression in teenagers. The authors highlight that the lack of proper control of the drugs will cause poor medication and correction services. In the study, the researchers used literature review and experiments the methods of collection of data. In the study, the researchers used rodents as the experimental animals, and the study went on for three months. In the three months, the author also measured the impact of stress in a group of other rodents. The materials that the authors used in the study were peer-reviewed all discussed drug abuse as the major cause of depression in many adults. The other method of interview was to find out the symptoms of depression. Through the analysis from the study, the researchers concluded that drug and substance was a major cause of depression and anxiety symptoms in the rodents. In the experiment, the author related the rates of depression and anxiety in the rodents with that in young people since the rodents in the experiment was young. In the other sample, the author noted that stress only accounted for 30 % of cases of depression.

McKelvey et al. (2015) tried to investigate the impact of poly-drug users as a major cause of depression in young adults. In the study, the researchers explored the impact of polydrug users. The researchers used 172 participants the baseline of the people with follow up plan for some periods. In the study revealed that over 95% of the participants was using more than one drug while 5% only reported using a single drug. Over 70 % of those that used more than one drug reported that they experienced mild depression and anxiety. The researchers also found out that those that used one drug experienced least episodes of depression. The authors concluded that poly-drug use was associated with high depression cases as compared to single drug use. Besides, the researchers also found that depressive symptoms also increased with continuous drug use.

Siennick et al. (2017) did an experiment to investigate the impact of the use of drugs on adolescents as a result of peer pressure. The researchers continued tried to test the impact of drugs on the emotional life of drug users. In the study, the authors used randomized trials in community schools and used regression models and incorporated four waves. The researchers incorporated data from online surveys of 636 adolescents at the end of ninth grade. The researchers found out that children that had high records of drug use recorded most episodes of depression. The researchers also showed that in cases that the children did not want to use drugs were at a larger risk of using drugs as compared to those people that did not use drugs. The researchers also found out that there was an increase in the number of total depression cases on the adolescents that started to use drugs due to influence from their peers who were in drugs. The authors found that the female was at risk of using drugs, therefore, at risk of experiencing depression.

Berg, Rostila, & Hjern (2016) makes a connection between the deaths of the parents as the major cause of depression. The researchers includes family and relations theories to express the connection that exists between the children and their parents. In the study that included 1200 participants shows that the death of parents at pre-school age reduces maternal care and consecutively development of depression. Berg et al. (2018) also found out that deaths that occur due to external sources cause higher cases of depression and anxiety as compared to natural deaths. Besides the researchers found out that incidences of depression were higher in women as compared to those of young males. Women often suffer emotional stress as compared to male counterparts that will make them suffer during death of parents (Sunindijo & Kamardeen, 2016). It is clear that there is a strong emotional attachment between the children and their parents. Therefore, any breaks of the bonds will lead to emotional stress that eventually leads to the development of depression in young adults. However, the researchers researched a Sweden state where the economy of the society is strong, and the major participants in the study were the breadwinners. Therefore, the researcher cannot be used to conclude that the death of parents will cause emotional stress on the children.

Feigelman et al. (2017) try to explore how the death of parents causes mental illness, depression, and anxiety in young adults. In the research, the authors conducted a review of data collected by authors before. The researchers did a major comparison on the lives of the children that their parents and those that had live parents. In the review, the authors only included data that had information on the behavior of adolescents after the death of the parent. The research involved an exploration of the written materials classified the various impacts of parent deaths in the lives of the adults. The authors classified the impacts into several tables; table 1: depression, table 2: violence and table 3: anxiety. From the information depression and anxiety had the highest scores. Feigelman et al. (2017) also found that the young women had high scores in depression as compared to young males. The authors also found that both female and male adults shown fighting behavior after the death of the parent as compared to those children that had parents. The researchers also found out that the rates of suspension from schools for both of the genders were high as compared to those children that had the parents. To the end of the researcher confirmed that deaths of parents were the major cause of stress, depression, and anxiety on the adults. However, the researcher made no efforts to compare the different types of deaths in causing depression.

Conclusion

Depression and anxiety are common among many teenagers although the cause of the condition is not well defined. At most times medical practitioners risk offering wrong medication to the adolescents since they do not understand the causes of the depression. In the review, three-quarters of the articles show that drug and substance abuse while only two of the articles linked the death of parents as the cause of depression and anxiety in many adolescents. The articles showed that young females recorded the highest number of depression cases as compared to men after drug use. Those that used more than one drug also suffered many episodes of depression as compared to single drug users while those that used short-range drugs like alcohol and cigarettes while those that used hard drugs recorded higher cases of depressive episodes. The minor findings showed that death of parents would also cause depressive symptoms, although, the authors failed to examine other causes of depression. Lastly, the continuous use of drugs does not bring social satisfaction but rather increases depressive episodes. Though the actual reason of depression in young people is yet to be found but the literature review shows that continuous use of drugs and other substances can lead to depression in young people in the world. A research proposal can be used to find if the continuous use of drugs is the main reason of depression in young people.

References

Berg, L., Rostila, M., & Hjern, A. (2016). Parental death during childhood and depression in young adults–a national cohort study. Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, 57(9), 1092-1098.

Brockie, Teresa N., Gail Dana-Sacco, Gwenyth R. Wallen, Holly C. Wilcox, and Jacquelyn C. Campbell. "The relationship of adverse childhood experiences to PTSD, depression, poly-drug use and suicide attempt in reservation-based Native American adolescents and young adults." American journal of community psychology 55, no. 3-4 (2015): 411-421.

Chaplin, T. M., Niehaus, C., & Gonçalves, S. F. (2018). Stress reactivity and the developmental psychopathology of adolescent substance use. Neurobiology of stress.

Feigelman, W., Rosen, Z., Joiner, T., Silva, C., & Mueller, A. S. (2017). Examining longer-term effects of parental death in adolescents and young adults: Evidence from the national longitudinal survey of adolescent to adult health. Death Studies, 41(3), 133-143.

Hall, W. D., Patton, G., Stockings, E., Weier, M., Lynskey, M., Morley, K. I., & Degenhardt, L. (2016). Why young people's substance use matters for global health. The Lancet Psychiatry, 3(3), 265-279.

Hanson, J. L., Hariri, A. R., & Williamson, D. E. (2015). Blunted ventral striatum development in adolescence reflects emotional neglect and predicts depressive symptoms. Biological Psychiatry, 78(9), 598-605.

McKelvey, K. L., Ramo, D. E., Delucchi, K., & Rubinstein, M. L. (2017). Polydrug use among urban adolescent cigarette smokers. Addictive behaviors, 66, 145-150.

Mojtabai, R., Olfson, M., & Han, B. (2016). National trends in the prevalence and treatment of depression in adolescents and young adults. Pediatrics, 138(6).

Nikolova, Y. S., Knodt, A. R., Radtke, S. R., & Hariri, A. R. (2016). Divergent responses of the amygdala and ventral striatum predict stress-related problem drinking in young adults: possible differential markers of effective and impulsive pathways of risk for alcohol use disorder — molecular Psychiatry, 21(3), 348.

Rappeneau, V., & Berod, A. (2017). Reconsidering depression as a risk factor for substance use disorder: insights from rodent models. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 77, 303-316.

Ruchkin, V., & Schwab-Stone, M. (2014). A longitudinal study of somatic complaints in urban adolescents: the role of internalizing psychopathology and somatic anxiety. Journal of youth and adolescence, 43(5), 834-845.

Siennick, S. E., Widdowson, A. O., Woessner, M. K., Feinberg, M. E., & Spoth, R. L. (2017). Risk factors for substance misuse and adolescents' symptoms of depression. Journal of Adolescent Health, 60(1), 50-56.

Siennick, S. E., Widdowson, A. O., Woessner, M., & Feinberg, M. E. (2016). Internalizing symptoms, peer substance use, and substance use initiation. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 26(4), 645-657.

Sunindijo, R. Y., & Kamardeen, I. (2017). Work stress is a threat to gender diversity in the construction industry. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 143(10), 04017073.