Mental health trajectories of Canadian young adults and older population index: evidence from the National Population Health Survey (1994-2011)

Abstract

This study is primarily aimed to identify distinct subgroups of individuals following similar mental health conditions over a 16-year follow-up using the latent class growth modeling (LCGM). We also provided the description of characteristics of each trajectory group. Mental health trajectory analysis can show the long-term age-related developmental changes of young adults (18-29 at baseline) and older population's (60-75 at baseline) mental health condition. The National Population Health Survey (NPHS), from 1994 to 2011 was used for this study. The results showed that the mental health conditions among the survey population during the follow-up period were not homogeneous, and there existed several common group patterns of mental health conditions at different age groups. The young adult group consisted of 2661 subjects, ranging from 18 to 45 years of age; while the senior group consisted of 2036 subjects, ranging from 60 to 91 years of age. Four trajectories were identified among the young adults' population, and two trajectories among the older population. Mental Health trajectory group memberships were related to numerous variables, including sex, socialeconomic status, lifestyle, as well as physical conditions. Through analyzing trajectories and attributes of different trajectories, this study might contribute to understanding the psychological conditions of the Canadian population.