Childhood emotional symptom trajectories in three generationally and socio-ethnically distinct UK birth cohorts
- 1University of Bristol
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.
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BibTeX
@misc{fairweather2026childhood,
title = {{Childhood emotional symptom trajectories in three generationally and socio-ethnically distinct UK birth cohorts}},
author = {S. J. Fairweather and A. S. F. Kwong and E. Deniz and G. Hammerton and G. M. Khandaker and H. J. Jones},
howpublished = {medRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = jun,
doi = {10.64898/2026.06.24.26356453},
url = {https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.06.24.26356453v2},
note = {CC BY-ND},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Childhood emotional symptom trajectories in three generationally and socio-ethnically distinct UK birth cohorts
AU - S. J. Fairweather
AU - A. S. F. Kwong
AU - E. Deniz
AU - G. Hammerton
AU - G. M. Khandaker
AU - H. J. Jones
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/06/24
PB - medRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.06.24.26356453
UR - https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.06.24.26356453v2
AB - 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.
ER -