ArticleSocial psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology2026
Early childhood and early adolescent predictors of internalising symptoms in adolescents: findings from a longitudinal study in a high-risk South African environment.
Article in Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeThis study investigates predictors of internalising symptoms among adolescents aged 16 to 19 years in a high-risk context in South Africa. Specifically, it explores early childhood (antenatal to 18 months postpartum), and early adolescent (13 to 14 years) predictors of internalising symptoms measured during later adolescence (16-19 years), aiming to identify key factors influencing mental health outcomes in this vulnerable population.
methodsUtilising a unique 18-year longitudinal dataset, we included a total of 314 adolescent participants from South Africa in the analysis and employed an adaptive elastic net regularised regression to analyse the effects of 18 predictors from early childhood and early adolescence on internalising symptoms at ages 16 to 19 years. The broadband scale for "internalising" from the Youth Self Report (ages 11-18) was used as the outcome measure. Data collected at five time points across three phases of the longitudinal study were included in the analysis.
resultsKey predictors of internalising symptoms were female sex (β=-4.30; 95% CI [-4.42;4.19]). Early childhood predictors with significant associations were maternal depression (β = 1.70; 95% CI [1.56;1.84]) and caregiver employment (β=-0.37; 95% CI [-0.46;-0.29]). In early adolescence, significant predictors included informal house type (β = 0.82; 95% CI [0.71;0.93]), caregiver alcohol use (β = 0.74; 95% CI [0.67;0.81]), exposure to violence (β = 0.73; 95% CI [0.67;0.78]), friend support (β=-0.61; 95% CI [-0.67;-0.55]), food insecurity (β = 0.51; 95% CI [0.46;0.56]), family support (β=-0.33; 95% CI [-0.37;-0.29]), and self-esteem (β=-0.33; 95% CI [-0.37;-0.29]).
conclusionThis study identifies key predictors of internalising symptoms in adolescents from high-risk context, focusing on caregiver variables and social connections. Maternal / Primary cargiver depression and caregiver unemployment in early childhood have lasting effects, highlighting the need for early intervention. In early adolescence, factors such as social environment and caregiver stability are crucial. These insights can inform targeted interventions and policies to support adolescent mental health in high-risk contexts.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.