Examining Cognitive Functioning and Emotion Processing in Adolescents: The Impact of Depressive Symptoms, Comorbid Conditions, and Demographics Characteristics

Abstract

Introduction: Previous studies evaluating the interaction between major depressive disorder (MDD) and cognitive functioning and emotion processing have observed varied results. These discrepancies may be attributed to differences in age, sex, or clinical heterogeneity, including comorbid conditions. Therefore, the present study explores how depressive symptoms, anxiety, attention problems, and demographic characteristics (age and sex) are associated with cognitive functioning and emotion processing among adolescents with varying levels of depressive symptoms. Methods: A secondary data analysis was conducted with a mixed clinical-community sample of 78 adolescents between 11-17 years old (60.3% female). Participants completed the Child Behaviour Checklist Youth Self-Report, Social Skills Rating System Questionnaire, Columbia Impairment Scale Youth Version, and the Emotion-Word Emotion-Face Stroop Task (EWEFST). The EWEFST was used to evaluate attention, processing speed, interference effect/inhibitory control, and emotion processing. Spearman correlation and hierarchical linear regression analyses were conducted to explore the correlation between depressive symptoms, anxiety, attention problems, age, and sex on cognitive functioning and emotion processing. Results: Across the entire sample, four significant findings were observed: (1) Greater anxiety symptoms were associated with better attention; (2) As adolescents mature and if they were assigned female at birth, they were more proficient at inhibiting interference and automatic responses as well as prioritizing goal relevant information; (3) After controlling for anxiety and attention problems, participants with greater depressive problems were better at identifying happy faces relative to angry faces; (4) Participants with greater attention problems were better at identifying angry faces relative to happy faces. Conclusion: The study demonstrates the importance of considering comorbid conditions and demographic characteristics when understanding cognitive functioning and emotion processing in adolescents. Future research should conduct longitudinal studies to better understand how these abilities change throughout adolescent development.