Mental health: Even at age 8, seniors suffer more from depression and anxiety

The position occupied within the family can have a strong impact on one’s mental health. A study looked at psychological disorders linked to birth order. She came to the conclusion that the eldest sibling and the only child are more prone to depression and anxiety than others.

As part of the study, a team of researchers from Epic Research closely examined the medical records of more than 180,000 children.

Concretely, at 8 years old, older adults are 48% more likely to suffer from anxiety and 35% more likely to be affected by depression compared to children born after them.

In the population of individuals aged 8 years, the prevalence of anxiety is 42% higher and that of depression 38% higher in only children compared to others. The researchers also took into account other factors, including the psychological history of the child and the mother.

Although the study does not explain why this diagnosis is more common among older adults and only children, it does identify birth order as a potential marker of risk for anxiety and depression. However, there are some possible explanations as to why these mental disorders are more common among older adults and only children.

“In the pre-industrial era, people were faced with raising children throughout their lives and were also much more involved in caring for their younger siblings,” explains Molly Fox, a biological anthropologist at the University of California, Huffpost.

According to her, this experience is lacking today and confronts couples who become parents for the first time with fears and a steep learning curve. Because it is the elders and the only children who bear the brunt of their parents’ education. This can, depending on the case, be very different from one child to another within the same siblings.

The second hypothesis concerns prenatal evolution. “The biological environment of the first pregnancy is different from that of subsequent pregnancies,” explains Molly Fox. Her research found that a mother’s stress level during pregnancy predicted earlier adrenal puberty in older daughters, but not in sons.

This earlier maturation potentially conditions older girls to take care of their younger brothers and sisters. “It cannot be ruled out that mothers who are more depressed, more anxious or more stressed during pregnancy transmit biochemical signals that lead to accelerated maturation in their eldest daughter,” explains Molly Fox. This would mean that the eldest daughter is conditioned to take on the role typically expected of her even before she is born.

However, taking care of one’s younger brothers and sisters, far from being a burden and a problem for the elders, offers profound evolutionary advantages. “Taking care of each other is not inherently a bad thing,” says Molly Fox. However, given the way in which it has been constructed, Western society is not compatible with the majority of evolving elements of the family structure.

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