Depression, but Not Anxiety, Is Associated With Poorer Working Memory in Adolescent Psychiatric Patients

Objective The present study aimed to examine the associations between depression/anxiety and cognitive functioning in adolescent psychiatric patients to understand the progress of symptoms and build effective intervention plans.Methods Data from 82 adolescents who received psychiatric treatment and psychological assessment at a university hospital were analyzed based on Wechsler Intelligence Scale and the Depression (DEP) and Anxiety (ANX) scales of the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI).Results The mean full-scale intelligent quotient was 88.55, which was lower than the normative mean. The mean PAI DEP score was 65.45, and the mean ANX score was 60.10. In the correlation analyses, only DEP and the Working Memory Index (WMI) showed a significant negative correlation(r=-0.24, p=0.005). In a multiple regression analysis in which the three DEP subscales (cognitive, affective, and physiological DEP [DEP-P]) were entered as independent variables and WMI as the dependent variable. Only DEP-P, which assesses symptoms such as sleep problems, reduced activity, and low energy, significantly predicted WMI (β=-0.37, t=-2.90, p=0.005).Conclusion Adolescent psychiatric patients presenting with a wide range of clinical problems reported more depressive symptoms and showed lower intellectual functioning than normative samples. In addition, the unique association observed between physiological symptoms of depression and working memory is consistent with previous evidence linking these symptoms to circadian rhythm disruption, dysfunction of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex/frontoparietal network, and white matter deficits. These findings suggest that therapeutic interventions targeting physiological depressive symptoms may contribute to improving working memory and academic achievement in adolescents.