Psychological Distress in Emerging Adulthood: A Longitudinal Study

Emerging adulthood (18-29 years) is a critical stage in lifespan development. During this stage, people experience instability: shifts from their families of origin, breakups of relationships and job changes are frequent before most young adults stabilize their lives and make more lasting decisions. This study seeks to understand the psychological distress of emerging adults in Quito, Ecuador and define how it varies over a year.

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Key information

Conditions

Psychological Distress Behavior Personal Satisfaction Psychological Well-Being

Age range

18 year–29 year

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Observational

Primary location

Metropolitan District

Quito, EC170503, Ecuador

About this study

Emerging adulthood is often a period of some instability with relationship changes and often a series of job changes before life trajectories clarify and more lasting decisions are possible. These changes often produce distress and they might explain why most of the symptoms that impact the individual's mental health throughout their lives appear at this stage, although full-blown disorders are often only diagnosed subsequently. There are several studies that describe the prevalence of mental disorders in this age group, however, there are few studies that refer to how psychological distress changes during this phase of emotional, social, and financial instability. The few existent studies refer mostly to college student populations, with relative neglect of the non-student populations.

The objective of this study is to analyze the intraindividual changes in psychological distress of emerging adults over one year. These changes will be compared between those participants who are college students and those who are not. Sociodemographic data will be recorded in the first assessment and the last assessment, while psychological distress and health-related quality of life will be monitored bimonthly for seven assessment points in total. Everyday relevant events will be also recorded bimonthly for seven assessment points, and this information will be used as a time-varying covariate. An electronic survey will be used for data collection through formr system (https://formr.org/).

The results of this research will show if the distress changes significantly in the studied population for one year and it will be possible to identify some of the events and variables that are related to these changes. This knowledge might help to create interventions that are tailored to the needs of this population.

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: Yes

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

Competence to read and understand Spanish
Living in Ecuador
Being a student (for the student cohort)
Not attending to a formal student program (for the non-student cohort)

Exclusion criteria

None

Treatment and study plan

Primary outcomes

Change on the Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation (CORE)

Time frame: One year (seven assessment points at two-month intervals)

A 34-item self-reported measure that assess psychological distress and how it changes considering four dimensions: subjective well-being (four items), problems and or symptoms (twelve items), life function (twelve items) and risk to self and others (six items). Higher scores indicate higher psychological distress. It is measure that can be downloaded free of charge from: www.coresystemtrust.org.uk. The Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation- Outcome Measure(CORE-OM) has shown good psychometric properties in college students (and a non-student general population sample) from Ecuador (http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s40359-020-00443-z)

Secondary outcomes

EuroQol five-dimensions - three-level (EQ-5D-3L)

Time frame: One year (seven assessment points at two-month intervals)

A 5-item self-report measure of health-related quality of life states in adults, considering five dimensions (Mobility, Self-care, Usual activities, Pain & discomfort, Anxiety & Depression), each of which has three severity levels that are described by statements appropriate to that dimension. As result a 5-digit number describes person's health state profile. Higher scores represent more problems with regard to each dimension.
EuroQol Visual Analogue Scale (EQ VAS)

Time frame: One year (seven assessment points at two-month intervals)

This scale records the patient's self-rated health on a vertical visual analogue scale that ranges from 0= 'Best imaginable health state' to 100 = 'Worst imaginable health state'. The VAS will be used as a quantitative measure of health outcome .

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

Universidad de las Americas - Quito

Other

Registry information

Acronym: DistressEA

Important dates

Study start: 2020
Primary completion: 2022
Study completion: 2023
First posted: Oct 22, 2020
Registry last updated: Oct 25, 2023

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

Published trials that share one or more normalized conditions with this study.

Completed