Childhood temperamental, emotional, and behavioral predictors of clinical mood and anxiety disorders in adolescence

Background: Mood and anxiety disorders, often emerging during adolescence, account for a large share of the global burden of disability. Prospectively assessed premorbid early signs and trajectories can provide useful insights for early detection and development of these disorders. Methods: Using the health registry linked Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study (MoBa) of 110,367 children, we here examine cross-sectional and longitudinal association between temperamental traits, emotional and behavioral problems in childhood (0.5-8 years) and diagnosis of mood or anxiety (emotional) disorders in adolescence (10-18 years). We included birth year and sex, retrieved from the Medical Birth Registry of Norway, as covariates in all analyses. Results: Logistic regression analyses showed consistent and increasing associations between childhood negative emotionality, behavioral and emotional problems and adolescent diagnosis of emotional disorders, present from 6 months of age (negative emotionality) and with similar magnitude of association for the associated traits. Latent profile analysis incorporating latent growth models identified five developmental profiles of emotional and behavioral problems. A profile of early increasing behavioral and emotional problems with combined symptoms at 8 years (1.3% of sample) was the profile most strongly associated with emotional disorders in adolescence (OR vs. reference: 5.00, 95% CI: 3.73-6.30). Conclusions: We found a consistent and increasing association between negative emotionality, behavioral and emotional problems in early to middle childhood and mood and anxiety disorders in adolescence. A developmental profile coherent with early and increasing disruptive mood dysregulation across childhood was most predictive of adolescent emotional disorders. Our results highlight the importance of early emotional dysregulation and childhood as a formative period in the development of adolescent mood and anxiety disorders, supporting a potential for prevention and early intervention initiatives. Keywords: MoBa, Anxiety disorders, Depressive disorders, Irritability, Development, Emotional disorders