Stress, development and mental health study, the follow-up study of Finnish TAM cohort from adolescence to midlife: cohort profile.

PURPOSE: This cohort profile describes the Stress, development and mental health study (TAM), which is a cohort study investigating risk and protective factors as well as longitudinal associations regarding mental health and well-being from adolescence to midlife. This interdisciplinary cohort study operates, for example, in the fields of public health, social medicine, psychiatry and the life course perspective. PARTICIPANTS: In 1981 (n=2242, 98.0% of the target population), 1982 (n=2191, 95.6%) and 1983 (n=2194, 96.7%) during school classes, surveys were conducted to all Finnish-speaking pupils (mostly born 1967) in the Tampere region in Finland. Participants of the school study at age 16 in 1983 (n=2194) comprised the base population for the longitudinal data and were followed-up using postal questionnaires in the years 1989, 1999, 2009 and 2019 at ages 22 (n=1656, 75.5% of the age 16 participants), 32 (n=1471, 67.0%), 42 (n=1334, 60.8%) and 52 (n=1160, 52.9%). FINDINGS TO DATE: The self-reported questionnaires include information on physical and mental health (eg, depression and mood disorders, anxiety disorders), health behaviour and substance misuse (eg, alcohol, tobacco and exercise), socioeconomic conditions, psychosocial resources (eg, self-esteem), social relationships and support, life events, etc. The numerous studies published to date have examined mental health and various factors from several perspectives such as risk and protective factors, individual developmental paths (eg, trajectories) and pathway models (mediation and moderation). FUTURE PLANS: Current and future research areas include, for example, longitudinal associations between mental health (eg, depressive symptoms, self-esteem) and (1) substance use (alcohol and tobacco), (2) family transitions (eg, parenthood, relationship status) and (3) retirement. Next follow-up is planned to be conducted at the latest at age 62 in 2029. Before that it is possible to link the data with cause-of-death register.

Associations between relationship status and mental well-being in different life phases from young to middle adulthood.

The aim of this study was to assess the associations between relationship status and mental well-being in four different phases during the life course, and to identify whether relationship quality moderated these associations. We used a broader concept of relationship status (instead of marital status) and also included the positive dimension of mental health. Participants in a Finnish cohort study were followed up at ages 22 (N = 1,656), 32 (N = 1,471), 42 (N = 1,334), and 52 (N = 1,159). Measures in all study panels covered relationship status (marriage, cohabitation, dating, single and divorced/widowed), Short Beck Depression Inventory (S-BDI), self-esteem (seven items) and relationship quality (six items). Analyses were carried out using linear regression. Compared to marriage, being single or being divorced/widowed were associated with depressive symptoms at every age in men. For women, in turn, being single - but not being divorced/widowed - was associated with depressive symptoms. Among men, being single or being divorced/widowed were also associated with lower self-esteem at age 32, 42 and 52, but in women, only one association between lower self-esteem and being single was found at age 32. Of the age stages, the age 32 is highlighted in men, at which point all relationship statuses were risk factors compared to marriage. There were only few indications of the moderating role of the relationship quality. Compared to marriage, being single or being divorced/widowed were quite consistently associated with poorer mental well-being during the life course, especially among men. For dating and cohabiting the associations were more fragmented depending on age and gender; particularly among women, these relationship statuses tended not to differ from marriage in terms of mental well-being. These observations on mental well-being across five relationship statuses are important in our contemporary society, where the number of marriages is decreasing, and other forms of relationships are becoming more common.