Methodological Complexities and Challenges in Longitudinal Mental Health Studies: Systematic Review

Music City Center 

This systematic review explores the methodological challenges in longitudinal mental health research, focusing on study design characteristics, data handling approaches, and statistical methods. By synthesizing evidence from studies published between 1990 and 2024, the review aims to provide practical recommendations for addressing issues such as attrition, missing data, and serial correlations, ultimately contributing to more reliable and interpretable analyses in mental health research. Once coding is complete, the data will be synthesized narratively, with a focus on identifying patterns and trends in how longitudinal mental health studies address methodological challenges. It will offer practical recommendations for applied researchers, contributing to improved reliability and interpretability of longitudinal analyses in mental health research.
The findings are expected to offer valuable insights into longitudinal mental health study designs and characteristics, serving as a starting point for future methodological studies addressing the existing complexities in the field.

Longitudinal mental health

Methodological complexities

Serial correlation 

Mental Health Statistics Section