Multimodal indicators of risk for and consequences of depression: Executive function from preadolescence into adulthood

• In Event: Poster Session 06
  In Poster Session: PS 06 Topic - Developmental Psychopathology

Abstract

Executive function is hypothesized to be impaired in major depressive disorders (MDD; Snyder, 2013), but whether this impairment reflects premorbid risk for depression or an effect of depression on executive function is unknown. In the present study, we examined developmental trajectories of multiple indicators of executive function assessed from preadolescence into early adulthood among individuals with versus without single-episode and recurrent MDD. Participants were a population-based sample of 1512 male and female twins from the Minnesota Twin Family Study (MTFS), prospectively assessed at ages 11, 14, 17, 20, and 24. Multimodal indicators of executive function included measures of visuospatial working memory accuracy, antisaccade task performance, and mother- and self-reported trait disconstraint. Linear mixed models that accounted for the repeated measures and nested nature of the twin family data were used to examine premorbid indicators of executive function and trait disconstraint prior to the onset of any MDD symptoms at age 11, as well as changes across adolescence into early adulthood (ages 11 to 24). Individuals who developed MDDs made fewer errors on the antisaccade task and had lower levels of disconstraint at age 11 compared to individuals who did not develop MDD. However, individuals who developed MDDs did not demonstrate developmentally normative improvements in executive function over time (i.e., antisaccade performance did not improve). Significant interactions with sex indicated that the effect of MDD on age-related improvement in antisaccade performance was only significant for girls and that the effect of age-related improvement on working memory performance was stronger for boys. We also examined potential differences in trajectories for individuals with single-episode versus recurrent depression. Individuals with recurrent MDD showed impairment compared to individuals with single-episode MDD on all three measures of executive function at age 11. In addition, individuals with recurrent MDD did not demonstrate developmentally normative improvements in executive function over time (i.e., antisaccade performance and trait disconstraint did not improve) relative to individuals with single-episode MDD. Significant interactions with sex indicated that the effect of recurrent versus single-episode MDD on age-related improvements in antisaccade performance was only significant for girls and that the effect of age-related improvement on working memory performance was stronger for boys. Taken together, results suggest premorbid indicators of impaired executive function prior to diagnosis do not index risk for developing MDD, though premorbid impairment in executive function does appear to differentiate recurrent MDD from single-episode MDD. Results also highlight the potentially deleterious effects of MDD on normative age-related improvements in executive function from adolescence into early adulthood, with some nuance in findings across boys and girls.

Authors

• Melody Rose Altschuler, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
  Presenting Author

• Jonathan D. Schaefer, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
  Non-Presenting Author

• Matt McGue, University of Minnesota
  Non-Presenting Author

• William G Iacono, University of Minnesota
  Non-Presenting Author

• SYLIA WILSON, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
  Non-Presenting Author