RESEARCH ARTICLE
Features of Emerging Adulthood: What are Their Relationship with Depression Symptoms?
Akmarina Ahmad Othman1, *, Wan Marzuki Wan Jaafar1
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2022Volume: 15
E-location ID: e187435012208010
Publisher ID: e187435012208010
DOI: 10.2174/18743501-v15-e2208010
Article History:
Received Date: 10/12/2021Revision Received Date: 18/3/2022
Acceptance Date: 18/4/2022
Electronic publication date: 03/10/2022
Collection year: 2022
open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Background:
In Malaysia, the highest prevalence of depression among adults was in the age group of 25-29, followed by the ages 20-24. The increasing prevalence of depression among emerging adults is concerning, as prior studies have shown that features in emerging adulthood such as instability and self-focused made them more vulnerable to develop depression and anxiety. There are limited studies conducted on the relationship between these features and depression in eastern countries, where their cultures are different from western cultures. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the relationship between features of emerging adulthood with depression symptoms among emerging adults aged 18-29 in Malaysia.
Methods:
This was a cross-sectional and preliminary study that involved 37 emerging adults. The Inventory of Dimensions of Emerging Adulthood (IDEA) and Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) were used to assess the features of emerging adults in Malaysians and to measure their depressive symptoms, respectively.
Results:
Two out of five features in emerging adulthood were significant predictors for depressive symptoms – instability and self-focused. Meanwhile, the other three features were non-significant predictors for depressive symptoms – exploration, possibilities, and feeling in-between.
Conclusion:
With the increased scores in instability and self-focus, the chance for depressive symptoms increase too. Meanwhile, the increased scores in exploration and possibilities may or may not result in the reduction of depressive symptoms. Future studies should focus on the experimental study and emphasize emerging adulthood’s features when doing therapeutic interventions.
