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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychol.
Sec. Psychopathology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1466378

Association between stressful life events and depression, anxiety, and quality of life among urban adolescents and young adults in Latin America

Provisionally accepted
Francisco Diez-Canseco Francisco Diez-Canseco 1*Adriana Carbonel Adriana Carbonel 1Antonio Bernabe-Ortiz Antonio Bernabe-Ortiz 1Natividad Olivar Natividad Olivar 2*Carlos Gómez-Restrepo Carlos Gómez-Restrepo 3,4,5Mauricio Toyama Mauricio Toyama 1*José M. Uribe-Restrepo José M. Uribe-Restrepo 3*Luis I. Brusco Luis I. Brusco 2*Liliana Hidalgo-Padilla Liliana Hidalgo-Padilla 1*Daniela Ramirez Daniela Ramirez 1*Fernando L. Carbonetti Fernando L. Carbonetti 2*Karen Ariza-Salazar Karen Ariza-Salazar 4*Diliniya Stanislaus Sureshkumar Diliniya Stanislaus Sureshkumar 6*Catherine Fung Catherine Fung 6*Stefan Priebe Stefan Priebe 2,7*
  • 1 CRONICAS Center of Excellence in Chronic Diseases, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Lima, Peru
  • 2 Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, School of Medicine, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina
  • 3 Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, Faculty of Medicine, Pontifical Javeriana University, Bogotá, Cundinamarca, Colombia
  • 4 Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Faculty of Medicine, Pontifical Javeriana University, Bogotá, Cundinamarca, Colombia
  • 5 San Ignacio University Hospital, Bogotá, Cundinamarca, Colombia
  • 6 Unit for Social and Community Psychiatry, Wolfson Institute of Population Health, Queen Mary University of London, London, London, United Kingdom
  • 7 Unit for Social and Community Psychiatry, East London NHS Foundation Trust, London, United Kingdom

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: Latin American youth have a high prevalence of mental health disorders and face major socioeconomic and public safety problems. This study assesses the association between stressful life events (SLEs) and depression, anxiety, and quality of life among adolescents and young adults from deprived neighbourhoods of Latin America.The sample consisted of 2402 participants, between adolescents (15-16 years) and young adults (20-24 years), from Bogotá (Colombia), Buenos Aires (Argentina), and Lima (Peru), assessed in 2021-2022 and recruited in education and community settings and social media. We evaluated the most frequent recent and distant SLEs (occurred in the previous year and more than a year ago, respectively), the relationship between SLEs and severity of depression (PHQ-8), anxiety (GAD-7), and quality of life (MANSA), and we tested for differences by gender and age group.The most common recent and distant SLEs were related to public safety issues and financial distress. Accidents and school suspensions were more frequent among men, and sexual harassment and bullying among women. Every additional reported recent SLE increased the odds of mild, moderate, and severe depression (18%, 17%, and 25%, respectively) and anxiety (10%, 17%, and 21%, respectively) symptoms. Similar trends were found with distant SLEs and depression (8%, 9%, and 11% for mild, moderate, and severe symptoms, respectively) and anxiety (9%, 11%, and 12%, respectively). Furthermore, a higher number of recent and distant SLEs were associated with lower quality of life (β = -.05, p < .001, 95% CI [-0.06, -0.04] and β = -.04, p < .001, 95% CI [-0.05, -0.03], respectively). The relationship between mental distress and quality of life of recent SLEs seems stronger than the one from distant SLEs, and recent SLEs may have a higher impact on adolescents' mental health compared with young adults.Conclusions: Both recent and distant SLEs are related to mental distress and quality of life. Policies and programmes should aim to enhance public and health safety, as well as improve individual, family, and community protective factors that could mitigate the effect of SLEs on Latin American youth.

    Keywords: stressful life events, Depression, Anxiety, Quality of Life, Youth, Latin America

    Received: 17 Jul 2024; Accepted: 17 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Diez-Canseco, Carbonel, Bernabe-Ortiz, Olivar, Gómez-Restrepo, Toyama, Uribe-Restrepo, Brusco, Hidalgo-Padilla, Ramirez, Carbonetti, Ariza-Salazar, Stanislaus Sureshkumar, Fung and Priebe. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Francisco Diez-Canseco, CRONICAS Center of Excellence in Chronic Diseases, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Lima, Peru
    Natividad Olivar, Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, School of Medicine, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina
    Mauricio Toyama, CRONICAS Center of Excellence in Chronic Diseases, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Lima, Peru
    José M. Uribe-Restrepo, Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, Faculty of Medicine, Pontifical Javeriana University, Bogotá, 500001, Cundinamarca, Colombia
    Luis I. Brusco, Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, School of Medicine, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina
    Liliana Hidalgo-Padilla, CRONICAS Center of Excellence in Chronic Diseases, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Lima, Peru
    Daniela Ramirez, CRONICAS Center of Excellence in Chronic Diseases, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Lima, Peru
    Fernando L. Carbonetti, Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, School of Medicine, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina
    Karen Ariza-Salazar, Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Faculty of Medicine, Pontifical Javeriana University, Bogotá, 500001, Cundinamarca, Colombia
    Diliniya Stanislaus Sureshkumar, Unit for Social and Community Psychiatry, Wolfson Institute of Population Health, Queen Mary University of London, London, EC1M 6BQ, London, United Kingdom
    Catherine Fung, Unit for Social and Community Psychiatry, Wolfson Institute of Population Health, Queen Mary University of London, London, EC1M 6BQ, London, United Kingdom
    Stefan Priebe, Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, School of Medicine, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina

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