Minihan Savannah, Kumle Levi, Maston Kate, Bal Debopriyo, Werner-Seidler Aliza, Christensen Helen, Schweizer Susanne
School of Psychology University of New South Wales Sydney New South Wales Australia.
Department of Experimental Psychology University of Oxford Oxford UK.
JCPP Adv. 2023 Nov 3;4(1):e12204. doi: 10.1002/jcv2.12204. eCollection 2024 Mar.
Cognitive control problems have been implicated in the etiology and maintenance of mental health problems, including depression, in adults. Studies in adolescents have been more equivocal, with some showing changes in cognitive control in adolescents with mental health problems, whereas others fail to show an association. This study examines whether adolescent mental health is associated with control, the application of cognitive control in affective contexts, which shows more protracted development than cognitive control.
The present study investigated the association of cognitive and affective control with depressive symptomatology and self-reported diagnostic history of mental health problems in adolescents. The study included 1929 participants ( = 13.89) from the Future Proofing Study ( = 6,388, 11-16 years), who completed affective (incl., affective stimuli) and/or cognitive (incl., neutral stimuli) versions of a working memory (backward digit-span) and/or shifting (card-sorting) task at least once within 3 weeks of assessing mental health.
Poorer working memory was associated with greater depressive symptomatology in adolescents ( = -0.06, = .004), similarly across cognitive and affective control conditions ( = -0.02, = .269). Adolescents with self-reported diagnostic history of mental health problems had significantly poorer shifting ability in affective compared to cognitive control conditions ( = 0.05, = .010), whereas for adolescents with no self-reported diagnoses, shifting ability did not differ between conditions ( = -0.00, = .649).
The present analyses suggest that working memory difficulties, in particular, may be associated with the experience of current depressed mood in adolescents. Problems with affective shifting may be implicated in a range of mental health problems in adolescents. Given the ubiquitous need for efficient cognitive functioning in daily life, enhancing cognitive and affective control in adolescents may be a promising means of improving functioning across a range of domains, including affective functioning, and by extension, adolescent mental health.
认知控制问题与成年人心理健康问题（包括抑郁症）的病因及维持有关。青少年方面的研究结果则较为模糊，一些研究表明有心理健康问题的青少年存在认知控制方面的变化，而另一些研究则未发现关联。本研究探讨青少年心理健康是否与情感控制（即在情感情境中认知控制的应用，其发展比认知控制更为持久）有关。
本研究调查了青少年认知控制和情感控制与抑郁症状及心理健康问题自我报告诊断史之间的关联。研究纳入了来自“未来保障研究”（n = 6388，11 - 16岁）的1929名参与者（M = 13.89岁），他们在评估心理健康的3周内至少完成了一次工作记忆（倒序数字广度）和/或转换（卡片分类）任务的情感版本（包括情感刺激）和/或认知版本（包括中性刺激）。
较差的工作记忆与青少年更严重的抑郁症状相关（r = -0.06，p = 0.004），在认知和情感控制条件下情况类似（r = -0.02，p = 0.269）。有心理健康问题自我报告诊断史的青少年在情感控制条件下的转换能力明显比认知控制条件下差（r = 0.05，p = 0.010），而对于没有自我报告诊断的青少年，不同条件下的转换能力没有差异（r = -0.00，p = 0.649）。
目前的分析表明，工作记忆困难尤其可能与青少年当前的抑郁情绪体验有关。情感转换问题可能与青少年的一系列心理健康问题有关。鉴于日常生活中对高效认知功能的普遍需求，增强青少年的认知和情感控制可能是改善包括情感功能在内的一系列领域功能，进而改善青少年心理健康的一种有前景的方法。
