Poorer kids often depressed as teenagers

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28542263/

updated 12:34 p.m. ET, Wed., Jan. 7, 2009

Children from poor families are more likely than their peers to be depressed as teenagers, with effects that can ultimately make it harder to climb out from poverty, a new study suggests.

The study, which followed nearly 500 Iowa families for a decade, found that children in poorer families were at greater risk of depression symptoms by adolescence. These teenagers, in turn, were more likely to "grow up" faster — including having sex, leaving home or getting married at an earlier-than-average age.

This cycle, the study found, eventually put kids at risk of substantial obstacles in young adulthood, such as low education levels, unemployment and a lack of stable relationships in their lives.