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Children who experience more positive relationships and supportive environments while growing up are significantly less likely to develop depression or anxiety in early adulthood, according to new research led by RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences.

Published in the American Journal of Psychiatry, the study found that positive childhood experiences, such as supportive friendships, trusting relationships with parents and teachers, and feeling safe in the local neighborhood, were linked to better mental health at age 24, even after accounting for other known risk factors.

The relationship held even after researchers accounted for factors known to influence mental health, including childhood trauma, socioeconomic circumstances and genetic predisposition to mental illness. This suggests that positive experiences are more than simply a marker of lower overall risk. Instead, they appear to make an independent contribution to children's long-term mental health, alongside other influences.

Researchers at RCSI and FutureNeuro, the Research Ireland Centre for Translational Brain Science, analyzed data from 3,499 children from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), also known as Children of the 90s, observing positive experiences from birth to age 17.

They tracked 10 broad types of positive experience across childhood and adolescence, including a good relationship with a parent, a good relationship with a teacher, regular activities outside the home, supportive friendships, feeling safe in the neighborhood, enjoyment of school and frequent contact with family and friends, then assessed mental health outcomes at age 24.

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