RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN ADOLESCENT PREGNANCY, INCOME INEQUALITY, AND DEPRESSION FROM A PANEL STUDY IN SOUTH AFRICA FROM 2013-2017

Using data from the National Income Dynamics Study, I conducted a longitudinal analysis investigating the potential effects of adolescent pregnancy and income inequality on depression among adolescent women in South Africa. 

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A systematic review of the literature was conducted prior to data analysis to understand the context of the field. Searching PubMed and PsychInfo, MeSH terms were used to conduct an exhaustive search of the literature on the three permutations of relationships at play in this study: adolescent pregnancy and income inequality, income inequality and depression, and adolescent pregnancy and depression. 

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Using robust standard error regressions, I created models investigating these relationships with both the outcomes of binary incident depression and continuous depression severity. Comparing the two outcomes allowed for more depth of discussion. 

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It was found that adolescent pregnancy was associated with an increase in depressive symptoms, however, it was not associated with incident depression. Income inequality did not demonstrate any significance with either incident depression or depression severity. 

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