CUR - The Council on Undergraduate Research

The Longitudinal Associations Between Depression and Future Life Satisfaction

Muntaha, Chaudry2, Maria Zia1,2, Wei Zhang2 * 1 Department of Psychology, New Jersey City University, 2039 John F. Kennedy Blvd, Jersey City, NJ 07305, USA 2 Department of Biology, New Jersey City University, 2039 John F. Kennedy Blvd, Jersey City, NJ 07305, USA Muntaha Chaudry, email xxxx Maria Zia, email xxxx Wei Zhang, email: wzhang@njcu.edu

Abstract: Depression is a common mental illness that affects the ability to work, think, or feel. Life satisfaction is a cognitive evaluation of one’s own life. The current study aimed to examine the long-term impacts of depression on the life satisfaction levels by using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY79) data provided by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. NLSY79 includes a nationally representative sample of 12686 men and women born between 1957 and 1964. In this study, depression levels were measured in 1992 by the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CES-D) Scale, and life satisfaction was measured in 2014. Results showed that females scored higher on the CES-D scale in 1992, indicating higher depression levels than males, t = -8.95, p = .000. No gender difference was found for life satisfaction reported in 2014, t = 0.21, p = .834. Controlling for covariates (gender and race), linear regression results indicated that higher depression in 1992 was associated with lower life satisfaction levels reported in 2014, B = -.03, SE = .002, Beta = -.18, t = -14.77, p = .000. Overall, our findings suggest depression is among the risk factors for reducing long-term life satisfaction, highlighting the importance of early intervention and therapies provided for the affected individuals. Future researchers may use experimental and neurobiological approaches to investigate the potential underlying mechanisms further.

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