The Effect of Family Connectedness in Adolescence on Mental Health Outcomes in Adulthood

Abstract

Mental health disorders like depression and anxiety have become increasingly common amongst adolescents across the United States. Understanding which resilience factors can protect adolescents against mental health disorders is essential for general well-being into adulthood. This paper investigates the effect of protective resilience factors in adolescence, particularly family connectedness, on mental health outcomes in adulthood. I analyze a weighted, nationally representative sample from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, which followed the adolescents through 5 waves of surveys and interviews over 22 years. Logistic regression analyses are conducted and marginal effects for multiple regression specifications are estimated, holding the controls and predictors at their means. Binned scatterplots were also developed to visualize the effect of family connectedness on mental health. Adjusting for sociodemographic factors and baseline mental health, among the resilience factors, I found that family connectedness in adolescence had a statistically significant, small protective effect of -0.0356 for depression diagnosis in adulthood for the sample with both parents in the household. I found that family connectedness had a statistically significant, small protective effect of -0.0523 on depression for the female subsample but was not statistically significant for males. Additionally, higher levels of family connectedness had a statistically significant negative effect of -0.0310 on the use of psychological or emotional counseling in adulthood. Lastly, females and sexual minority youth typically had a statistically significant, higher likelihood for diagnosis of depression and anxiety or panic disorder in adulthood compared to males and heterosexual youth. These findings suggest that interventions aimed at promoting family connectedness in adolescence may have long-term benefits for mental health and well-being in adulthood.