Young Adults’ Experience with Depression
depression, mood disorders, mania
SAID
Thirty-one of forty-nine emerging adults felt they had suffered from depression or mania; however, some of the instances were mild and did not meet diagnostic criteria. For those emerging adults who had experienced their own mood disorders, they reported it was helpful to be able to talk about it with their parents (Mean = 4.7, SD = 1.8). Thirty out of forty respondents reported still talking to their parents about depression, yet only twenty reported being able to talk to parents about their own concerns for depression. Nine said they did not feel able to talk to their parents about their own risk for depression. Twenty-one of fifty emerging adults had used mental health services since leaving high school, and three received help through the original study. Those who used mental health services were often, but not always, satisfied with those services (Mean = 4.9, SD = 1.7). Young adults’ concern about availability of health care when they were no longer covered by their parents’ health insurance policy tended to be mild-to-moderate (Mean = 2.9, SD = 2.1). Parents also thought the health coverage their youths received was adequate (Mean = 5.4, SD = 1.7) but reported considerable concern about health insurance after the child was no longer covered by their health insurance (Mean = 5.4, SD = 1.7) and reported that access to health care was fairly difficult (Mean = 3.8, SD = 2.4). Most of the parents were satisfied when youths did get help (Mean = 4.5, SD = 1.8), and, when they sought help from the project, they felt quite satisfied with the resources they received (Mean = 3.8, SD =2.4). 