ABSTRACT
The study discussed in this chapter was designed to assess the relationship of contemporary stressors to the course, onset, and impact of major depression in a community population of young adults. This research focus is particularly compelling because the traditional stressors of entrance into adult responsibilities are augmented by the rapidly changing social and economic context of the 1990s. Many recent studies emphasized the vulnerability of contemporary young adults to the onset of psychiatric disorder (Christie et al., 1988, Giaconia et al., 1994). Additionally, the young adult period also represents a time when existing disorders originating in childhood and adolescence may continue (American Psychiatric Association, 1994).
