{
  "abstract": "Background: Depression/anxiety symptoms emerge early in life. We examined emotional symptom trajectories, from early childhood, in three UK birth-cohorts spanning successive generations and diverse socio-ethnic contexts. Methods: We used data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) and Born in Bradford (BiB) to identify group-based emotional symptom trajectories from 3-14y (N=11,025; 15,446; 6,711). Participants were born three decades apart (ALSPAC: 1990-2, MCS: 2000-2, BiB: 2007-10). We characterised groups by: sex, ethnicity, maternal depression/anxiety and IMD quintile. In ALSPAC we modelled associations between trajectories and depression/anxiety diagnoses at 24y and 30y. Results: Participants from ethnic minority backgrounds comprised 4% of ALSPAC, 17% of MCS and 66% of BiB. In all cohorts 49% were female. Each cohort had low-, mid- and high-level symptom trajectories. High-level trajectories comprised 6-7% of children. In younger cohorts (MCS and BiB), the high-level symptom trajectory started high and persisted while in the older ALSPAC cohort it started low and increased. In MCS and BiB, low-to-medium-level symptoms increased over time, but remained stable in ALSPAC. Female sex and maternal depression/anxiety were associated with increased odds of high-level trajectories (all cohorts). Lower area-level deprivation and belonging to the local ethnic majority group were protective. Mid- and high-level symptom trajectories had higher odds of depression/anxiety diagnoses in early adulthood in ALSPAC. Conclusions: Childhood emotional symptom trajectory-groups are broadly similar across generations and diverse social contexts. However, children born after 2000, in more diverse contexts, may experience persistent symptoms from a younger age.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "University of Bristol"
  ],
  "article_type": "PUBLISHAHEADOFPRINT",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 6,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "S. J. Fairweather"
    },
    {
      "name": "A. S. F. Kwong"
    },
    {
      "name": "E. Deniz"
    },
    {
      "name": "G. Hammerton"
    },
    {
      "name": "G. M. Khandaker"
    },
    {
      "name": "H. J. Jones"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/9ccb92hcy9m1j.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.64898/2026.06.24.26356453",
  "fulltext_url": "https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.06.24.26356453v2.full",
  "id": "9ccb92hcy9m1j",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.06.24.26356453v2",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY-ND",
  "licence_label": "CC BY-ND",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "medrxiv",
      "epidemiology"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "3203|Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7167341722",
  "pdf_url": "https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.06.24.26356453v2.full.pdf",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-06-24",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/9ccb92hcy9m1j.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-11-04T00:21:04Z",
      "native_id": "10.64898/2026.06.24.26356453",
      "source": "medrxiv",
      "url": "https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.06.24.26356453v2"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "medicine",
      "origin": "medrxiv:epidemiology",
      "subfield": "epidemiology-public-health"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Childhood emotional symptom trajectories in three generationally and socio-ethnically distinct UK birth cohorts",
  "title_text": "Childhood emotional symptom trajectories in three generationally and socio-ethnically distinct UK birth cohorts",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-05T00:20:36Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/9ccb92hcy9m1j",
  "venue": "medRxiv",
  "versions": []
}