Socioeconomic status in childhood and the lifetime risk of major depression

Epidemiological investigations have consistently demonstrated an increased risk of depression among individuals of lower socioeconomic status (SES) 1-3 and among females. 455]6 Still, many questions remain about the origins of these differential risks for depression. 7,8Mounting evidence of the long-term relation between early childhood conditions and the onset of depression raises the concern that SES differences in depression among adults originate during childhood. 9100]111213 There is also reason to believe that the impact of such adversity may be stronger for females than for males. 14,15evious investigations of the long-term effects of childhood SES on depression are limited by the use of retrospective reports of the childhood environment 13,16,17 and symptom scales of current psychological distress rather than a lifetime diagnosis of depression. 11,18Retrospective reports of childhood conditions are subject to measurement error that may be exacerbated by psychopathology, 19,20 while the analysis of current levels of psychological distress confounds the onset of depression with its recurrence. 13In this study, we present data on the prospective association between childhood SES and the first-time occurrence of a major depressive episode in a birth cohort ascertained from 1959 to 1966 and followed for an average of 29 years.