Increased attention to sad faces predicts depression risk in teenagers

July 28, 2020

Science Daily/Binghamton University

Teenagers who tend to pay more attention to sad faces are more likely to develop depression, but specifically within the context of stress, according to new research from Binghamton University, State University of New York.

Researchers at Binghamton University, led by graduate student Cope Feurer and Professor of Psychology Brandon Gibb, aimed to examine whether attentional biases to emotional stimuli, assessed via eye tracking, serve as a marker of risk for depression for teenagers.

"Although previous studies from the lab have examined who is most likely to show biased attention to sad faces and whether attention to sad faces is associated with risk for depression, the current study is the first to look at whether these attention biases impact how teenagers respond to stress, both in the lab and in the real world," said Feurer.

Biased attention to sad faces is associated with depression in adults and is hypothesized to increase depression risk specifically in the presence, but not absence, of stress by modulating stress reactivity. However, few studies have tested this hypothesis, and no studies have examined the relation between attentional biases and stress reactivity during adolescence, despite evidence that this developmental window is marked by significant increases in stress and depression risk.

Seeking to address these limitations, the new study examined the impact of adolescents' sustained attention to facial displays of emotion on individual differences in both mood reactivity to real-world stress and physiological reactivity to a laboratory-based stressor. Consistent with vulnerability-stress models of attention, greater sustained attention to sad faces was associated with greater depressive reactions to real-world stress.

"If a teenager has a tendency to pay more attention to negative stimuli, then when they experience something stressful they are likely to have a less adaptive response to this stress and show greater increases in depressive symptoms," said Feurer. "For example, if two teenagers both have a fight with a friend and one teenager spends more time paying attention to negative stimuli (i.e., sad faces) than the other, then that teenager may show greater increases in depressive symptoms in response to the stressor, potentially because they are paying more attention to the stressor and how the stressor makes them feel."

The researchers believe that the biological mechanism behind this finding lies in the brain's ability to control emotional reactivity.

"Basically, if the brain has difficulty controlling how strongly a teenager responds to emotions, this makes it harder for them to look away from negative stimuli and their attention gets 'stuck,'" said Feurer. "So, when teenagers who tend to pay more attention to sad faces experience stress, they may respond more strongly to this stress, as they have difficulty disengaging their attention from negative emotions, leaving these teens at increased risk for depression."

"This is also why we believe that findings were stronger for older than younger adolescents. Specifically, the brain becomes more effective at controlling emotional reactivity as teens get older, so it may be that being able to look away from negative stimuli doesn't protect against the impact of stress until later adolescence."

There is increasing research showing that the way teenagers pay attention to emotional information can be modified through intervention, and that changing attention biases can reduce risk for depression. The current study highlights attention toward sad faces as a potential target for intervention, particularly among older teenagers, said Feurer.

The researchers recently submitted a grant that would let them look at how these attention biases change across childhood and adolescence.

"This will help us better understand how this risk factor develops and how it increases risk for depression in youth," said Gibb. "Hopefully, this will help us to develop interventions to identify risk for these types of biases so that they can be mitigated before they lead to depression."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/07/200728130837.htm

Depression among young teens linked to cannabis use at 18

Seattle-focused study suggests earlier intervention with depressed youths could reduce rate of cannabis-use disorder

July 17, 2017

Science Daily/University of Washington Health Sciences/UW Medicine

A study looking at the cumulative effects of depression in youth, found that young people with chronic or severe forms of depression were at elevated risk for developing a problem with cannabis in later adolescence.

The study led by UW Medicine researchers interviewed 521 students recruited from four Seattle public middle schools. Researchers used data from annual assessments when students were ages 12-15 and then again when they were 18. The results were published in the journal Addiction.

"The findings suggest that if we can prevent or reduce chronic depression during early adolescence, we may reduce the prevalence of cannabis use disorder," said lead author Isaac Rhew, research assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of Washington School of Medicine.

What researchers called "a 1 standard deviation increase" in cumulative depression during early adolescence was associated with a 50 percent higher likelihood of cannabis-use disorder.

According to researchers, during the past decade cannabis has surpassed tobacco with respect to prevalence of use among adolescents. Cannabis and alcohol are the two most commonly used substances among youth in the United States. They pointed to one national study showing increases in prevalence of cannabis use disorder and alcohol use disorder in the United States, especially among young adults.

Longitudinal studies looking at the link between depression and later use of alcohol and cannabis, however, have been mixed. Some show a link. Others don't. But most studies have assessed adolescent depression at a single point in time -- not cumulatively, said the researchers. Further, there have been differences in how substance use has been measured ranging from the initiation of any use to heavier problematic forms of use.

The study oversampled for students with depressive and/or conduct problems. The researchers were surprised to see that the prevalence of cannabis and alcohol use disorder in this study was notably higher than national estimates with 21 percent meeting criteria for cannabis use disorder and 20 percent meeting criteria for alcohol use disorder at age 18.

What effect the easing of marijuana laws in Washington state had on the youth is unclear. Researchers said it would be informative to conduct a similar study in a state with more strict marijuana laws to understand whether the relationship between depression and cannabis misuse would still hold in areas where marijuana may be less accessible.

The age 18 substance abuse assessments occurred between 2007-2010. Washington state legalized medical cannabis in 1998 and its medical cannabis market expanded greatly after 2009 when the federal justice department issued a ruling known as the Ogden Memo. And in 2003, the city of Seattle made cannabis offenses the lowest enforcement priority for police and the city attorney.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/07/170717151031.htm