Teen stress linked to adult mood disorder

MONTREAL, Nov. 5 (UPI) -- There may be a link between daily stress and depression rates, and stress may be more hazardous to mental health than thought, researchers in Canada said.

Principal researcher Mark Ellenbogen, a professor at Concordia University in Montreal and a Canada Research Chair in Developmental Psychopathology, and colleagues evaluated the stress of children who are living in families in which one parent is affected by a mood disorder.

The researchers measured the levels of the stress hormone cortisol present in the children's saliva.

The findings show the adolescent offspring of at-risk families have higher salivary cortisol levels than kids from families without disorders, and the elevated levels persist into young adulthood.

"Although there may be many causes to the rise in cortisol, this increase may be in part due to exposure to family stress and parenting style," Ellenbogen says in a statement. "We have not yet confirmed that these children then go on to develop mood disorders of their own. However, preliminary data show high cortisol levels in adolescences doubles your risk for developing a serious mood disorder in young adulthood."

The findings are scheduled to be presented at the Wednesday at the Lady Davis Institute of the Jewish General Hospital in Montreal.