Or the act of fending off depression, anxiety, and panic disorders can positively influence perseverance toward life goals. That’s a just as valid conclusion from the data.
> participants were asked to rate their goal persistence (e.g., “When I encounter problems, I don’t give up until I solve them”), self-mastery (e.g., “I can do just anything I really set my mind to”) and positive reappraisal (e.g., “I can find something positive, even in the worst situations”). Diagnoses for major depressive, anxiety and panic disorders were also collected at each interval.
> People who showed more goal persistence and optimism during the first assessment in the mid-1990s had greater reductions in depression, anxiety and panic disorders across the 18 years, according to the authors.
Not only is your conclusion a valid one from the data, I'd say that it should very well by the default conclusion. Answering low on their goal-persistence questions would be obvious flags for being depressed.
Especially because there's no casual link that can be established, the most I could say from reading this article is that if you aren't interested in pursuing goals, you may be depressed.
The value here is that showing the existence of an emotion earlier in ones life is correlated to lessening of symptoms later is that it helps therapists know which emotions and behaviors to target during long term treatment like cognitive/behavioral therapy.
At least that's how I read it, I'm not a professional