Comorbid major depression (MD) and alcohol use disorder (AUD), particularly in adolescents, have been shown to be associated with poorer subsequent MD outcomes.
Longitudinal data were used to model associations between a four-level classification of MD/AUD during the period 15-18 years (neither; MD-only; AUD-only; comorbid MD/AUD) and MD over the period 18-35 years. These associations were then adjusted for confounding by a series of factors measured in childhood.
The three disorder groups had rates of adult MD during the period 18-35 years that were significantly (p<.05) higher than that of the group with no disorder. Furthermore, those in the comorbid MD/AUD group had significantly (p <.05) higher rates of adult MD than those in the AUD-only group, and marginally (p <.10) higher rates of adult MD than those in the MD-only group. After adjustment for confounding, the difference in rates of adult MD between the MD-only group and the MD/AUD group were no longer statistically significant. The factors that explained the associations were gender, childhood behavior problems, and exposure to physical and sexual abuse.
The data were obtained by self-report, and may have been subject to biases.
The results of these analyses suggest that marginally higher rates of depression to age 35 amongst the comorbid MD/AUD group were explained by increased exposure to adverse childhood circumstances amongst members of the comorbid group. Adolescent MD/AUD comorbidity is likely to be a risk marker, rather than a causal factor in subsequent MD.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 4. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 15 August 2025.
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#11,505,332
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#5,943
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#119,724
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Outputs of similar age from Journal of Affective Disorders
#72
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Altmetric has tracked 34,492,055 research outputs across all sources so far. This one has received more attention than most of these and is in the 65th percentile.
So far Altmetric has tracked 12,981 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 14.9. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 52% of its peers.
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We're also able to compare this research output to 165 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 52% of its contemporaries.
