Now We Are 12: Young people’s experiences of depression and anxiety symptoms. Snapshot 7

Mental health includes emotional, psychological, and social wellbeing and affects how we think, feel, and behave in daily life. It includes a range of negative (depression, anxiety, stress, trauma, addiction) and positive (happiness, flourishing, quality of life, life satisfaction) outcomes. Utilising data from the Growing Up in New Zealand birth cohort study, this snapshot reports young people’s experiences of depression and anxiety symptoms, explores key demographic factors (e.g., gender, ethnicity, and deprivation) and examines changes in mental health from 8 to 12-years-old.

The primary report contained in this file entitled 'Mental Health: Young people's experiences of depression and anxiety symptoms' includes:

• An introduction to anxiety and depression
• Mother reported diagnosis of depression and anxiety, and engagement with mental health services for young people
• Changes in young people's depression and anxiety symptoms from 8 to 12-years-old
• A model summarising the factors associated with depression and anxiety symptoms at 12-years-old
• Relevance for policy and practice

The supplementary material attached to this file entitled 'Supplementary materials for Young People's Experiences of Depression and Anxiety Symptoms' includes:

• How the constructs were measured in the main report
• Distributions of anxiety and depression scores
• Additional descriptive analyses related to symptoms of anxiety and depression symptoms
• Univariate and multivariate regression analyses for anxiety and depression symptoms