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Self-Reported Depressive Symptoms Have Minimal Effect on Executive Functioning Performance in Children and Adolescents

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Abstract

The relation between mood and executive functioning in children and adolescents has not been previously reported. This study examined the association between self-reported depressive symptoms in both clinical outpatient and psychiatric inpatient samples to the following measures of executive functioning: the Controlled Oral Word Association Test, Animal Naming, Trail Making Test, and Wisconsin Card Sorting Test. Records from children and adolescents aged 7–17 years old with an IQ > 70 were examined. Data were gathered at either an outpatient neuropsychology clinic (n = 89) or an inpatient psychiatric hospital setting (n = 81). Mood was measured with the Children’s Depression Inventory. Generally, statistical associations between self-reported depressive symptoms and executive functioning were small and non-significant. The variance predicted by mood on measures of executive functioning was minimal (generally less than 2 %) for the total sample, the outpatient group, inpatient group, and a subgroup who endorsed elevated mood symptoms. These results suggest that impaired performance on measures of executive functioning in children and adolescents is minimally related to self-reported depressive symptoms.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of South Alabama, Mobile, AL, 36688, USA

    Benjamin D. Hill, Danielle M. Ploetz & Martin L. Rohling

  2. Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, University of Mississippi Medical Center/VA Medical Center, Jackson, MS, 39206, USA

    Judith R. O’Jile

  3. Boston Neuropsychological Services, Nedham, MA, 02494, USA

    Mary Bodzy

  4. Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Alpert Medical School of Brown University/Butler Hospital, Providence, RI, 02906, USA

    Karen A. Holler

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  1. Benjamin D. Hill
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  2. Danielle M. Ploetz
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  3. Judith R. O’Jile
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  5. Karen A. Holler
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  6. Martin L. Rohling
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Correspondence to Benjamin D. Hill.

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Hill, B.D., Ploetz, D.M., O’Jile, J.R. et al. Self-Reported Depressive Symptoms Have Minimal Effect on Executive Functioning Performance in Children and Adolescents. J Child Fam Stud 22, 398–404 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-012-9592-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-012-9592-2

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