Research has shown that children who show early behavior patterns of anxiety and shyness can often turn into depression later on in life. There are numerous traits that factor into the development of depression symptoms such as shyness, fear and hesitation.
These are not unusual traits in children either, especially when they are experiencing a new situation or are in an unfamiliar environment. However, those children that cannot overcome fears and shyness tend to hold onto anxiety symptoms as they grow older, highlighted in a recent post.
There hasn’t been a great amount of research done about secure or positive parent/child attachment but insecure parent/child attachments has been known to be a factor that does increase the depression risk for those children who harbor anxiety.
The University of Southern Denmark held a study recently that looked at the effects of a secure parent/child attachment history in adolescence and the influence it had on risk of later depression in adulthood for those who had a history of anxiety in childhood.
They studies almost 1,000 people and discovered a consistency with previously existing research. If there was early evidence of a history of anxiety, this predicted an increased risk for depression risks or anxiety later in life.
The risk was also decreased by 50 percent for those children with a secure parent/child attachment at the age of 15. The results were clear when it came to the positive impact of a secure attachment and how it lowered the risk for later in life depression.
Children with insecure attachments by age 15 that were extremely anxious children had a 29 percent chance of developing depression or anxiety issues later on in life as compared to those with secure attachments who had just a 19 percent chance.
