Decision making in young people at familial risk of depression.
BACKGROUND: Major depression is associated with abnormalities in reward processing at neural and behavioural levels. Neural abnormalities in reward have been described in young people at familial risk of depression but behavioural changes in reward-based decision making have been less studied in thi...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Journal article |
| Language: | English |
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Cambridge University Press
2014
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| _version_ | 1826303388089843712 |
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| author | Mannie, Z Williams, C Browning, M Cowen, P |
| author_facet | Mannie, Z Williams, C Browning, M Cowen, P |
| author_sort | Mannie, Z |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | BACKGROUND: Major depression is associated with abnormalities in reward processing at neural and behavioural levels. Neural abnormalities in reward have been described in young people at familial risk of depression but behavioural changes in reward-based decision making have been less studied in this group. METHOD: We studied 63 young people (mean age 18.9 years) with a parent with a diagnosis of major depression but who had never been depressed themselves, that is with a positive family history of depression (the FH+ group). Participants performed the Cambridge Gambling Task (CGT), which provides several measures of decision making including deliberation time, quality of decision making, risk taking, risk adjustment and delay aversion. A control group of 49 age- and gender-matched young people with no history of mood disorder in a first-degree relative undertook the same task. RESULTS: Both FH+ participants and controls had low and equivalent scores on anxiety and depression self-rating scales. Compared to controls, the FH+ participants showed overall lower risk taking, although like controls they made more risky choices as the odds of a favourable outcome increased. No other measures of decision making differed between the two groups. CONCLUSIONS: Young people at increased familial risk of depression have altered risk taking that is not accounted for by current affective symptomatology. Lowered risk taking might represent an impairment in reward seeking, which is one of several changes in reward-based behaviours seen in acutely depressed patients; however, our findings suggest that decreased reward seeking could be part of a risk endophenotype for depression. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T06:01:55Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:ec7cdaba-2d7b-460d-a91e-c6eeb6425728 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T06:01:55Z |
| publishDate | 2014 |
| publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:ec7cdaba-2d7b-460d-a91e-c6eeb64257282022-03-27T11:17:56ZDecision making in young people at familial risk of depression.Journal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:ec7cdaba-2d7b-460d-a91e-c6eeb6425728EnglishSymplectic Elements at OxfordCambridge University Press2014Mannie, ZWilliams, CBrowning, MCowen, PBACKGROUND: Major depression is associated with abnormalities in reward processing at neural and behavioural levels. Neural abnormalities in reward have been described in young people at familial risk of depression but behavioural changes in reward-based decision making have been less studied in this group. METHOD: We studied 63 young people (mean age 18.9 years) with a parent with a diagnosis of major depression but who had never been depressed themselves, that is with a positive family history of depression (the FH+ group). Participants performed the Cambridge Gambling Task (CGT), which provides several measures of decision making including deliberation time, quality of decision making, risk taking, risk adjustment and delay aversion. A control group of 49 age- and gender-matched young people with no history of mood disorder in a first-degree relative undertook the same task. RESULTS: Both FH+ participants and controls had low and equivalent scores on anxiety and depression self-rating scales. Compared to controls, the FH+ participants showed overall lower risk taking, although like controls they made more risky choices as the odds of a favourable outcome increased. No other measures of decision making differed between the two groups. CONCLUSIONS: Young people at increased familial risk of depression have altered risk taking that is not accounted for by current affective symptomatology. Lowered risk taking might represent an impairment in reward seeking, which is one of several changes in reward-based behaviours seen in acutely depressed patients; however, our findings suggest that decreased reward seeking could be part of a risk endophenotype for depression. |
| spellingShingle | Mannie, Z Williams, C Browning, M Cowen, P Decision making in young people at familial risk of depression. |
| title | Decision making in young people at familial risk of depression. |
| title_full | Decision making in young people at familial risk of depression. |
| title_fullStr | Decision making in young people at familial risk of depression. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Decision making in young people at familial risk of depression. |
| title_short | Decision making in young people at familial risk of depression. |
| title_sort | decision making in young people at familial risk of depression |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT manniez decisionmakinginyoungpeopleatfamilialriskofdepression AT williamsc decisionmakinginyoungpeopleatfamilialriskofdepression AT browningm decisionmakinginyoungpeopleatfamilialriskofdepression AT cowenp decisionmakinginyoungpeopleatfamilialriskofdepression |