Anhedonia Symptoms in Infancy Predict Adolescent Depressive Symptoms: Development of an Index of Infant Anhedonia

• In Event: Poster Session 07
  In Poster Session: PS 07 Topic - Developmental Psychopathology

Abstract

Anhedonia is characterized by impairment in the ability to pursue, experience, or understand pleasure or reward, and is a transdiagnostic risk factor associated with suicidal ideation and poorer response to psychological and pharmacological treatments. Novel empirical data suggest that anhedonia can be experienced as early as three years of age, and is an important predictor of severity of preschool depression. Based on the known efficacy of early intervention, it is important to identify risk at the earliest possible point. No measures exist, however, to assess anhedonia in infancy. Thus, the aim of this study was to develop an index of infant reward processing, and to evaluate its psychometric properties and associations with adolescent self-report of depressive symptoms.
To develop this anhedonia index, first, operational definitions of infant anhedonia within various contexts were derived based on theory. Then, a team of seven researchers independently used the Infant Behavior Questionnaire-Revised (IBQ-R) to draw items for the anhedonia index. Items pertaining to anhedonia with at least 85% agreement among the seven researchers were retained for factor analyses (47 out of 191 total IBQ-R items).
Results of the exploratory factor analyses indicated that, at both 6 months (N = 166) and 12 months (N = 166), a one-factor solution was the best fit to the data, and each of the 47 items loaded (p < .05) on the single factor. These analyses were then repeated with participants from an independent cohort at 6 months (N = 199) and 12 months (N = 172), and after combining the cohorts at each age (N = 365 at 6 months, N = 338 at 12 months). The results were corroborated in each iteration. Reliability analyses were then conducted across the cohorts and suggested excellent internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha: .89-.94).
Anhedonia index scores at 6 and 12 months were derived by calculating the mean item score across the 47 items at each age. The average of anhedonia scores at 6 and 12 months was used to predict Children’s Depression Inventory (CDI) scores in adolescence (n = 139). Infant anhedonia index scores predicted elevated adolescent CDI scores (r = .18, p = .03), suggesting that anhedonia symptoms in infancy may represent an early risk factor for the development of later depression symptoms in adolescence. Importantly, the IBQ-R negative affectivity subscale at 6 and 12 months did not predict adolescent depression symptoms (r = .06, p = .51; and r = .05, p = .56, respectively). These results indicate that anhedonia symptoms are distinct from negative affect in infancy and may be important to consider as a risk factor for later psychopathology.
Taken together, the results of the current study provide initial support for this measure of anhedonia as psychometrically sound and useful in the prediction of later depression symptoms. This also provides evidence for a window of intervention opportunity in infancy that is much earlier than previously believed, which is important as early identification provides the most hope for treatment and is positively associated with later outcomes.

Authors

• Jessica L Irwin, University of La Verne
  Presenting Author

• Elysia Davis, University of Denver
  Non-Presenting Author

• Curt Sandman, University of California, Irvine
  Non-Presenting Author

• Laura Glynn, Chapman University
  Non-Presenting Author