Neural reward responsiveness and daily positive affect functioning in adolescent girls.

Deficits in reward processing have been implicated in the development of many forms of psychopathology, especially major depressive disorder (MDD). One facet of reward processing, known as reward responsivity, has been associated with the development and maintenance of depression across development. The reward positivity (RewP) is an event-related potential derived from electroencephalogram (EEG), which is thought to reflect reward responsivity. An attenuated RewP has been observed in both currently depressed individuals and youth at risk for depression, suggesting it may represent a biomarker of depression. Despite this, little is known about how the RewP translates to behavior and affect in the real world. In the current study, we examined how the RewP relates to real world emotional functioning, measured using ecological momentary assessment (EMA). Thirty-eight female adolescents (ages 11-16, Mage = 13.9 years) participated in the study; approximately half of the sample were considered high risk due to maternal lifetime history of MDD. Adolescents completed a monetary reward task while EEG was recorded, followed by a 10-day period of EMA assessing daily affect and emotion regulation strategy use following positive events. Results revealed that the RewP was positively associated with subjective reports of positive, but not negative, daily affect. Results also revealed that the RewP was positively associated with focusing on positive feelings following a positive event (e.g., savoring). Findings from this preliminary study highlight how neural responses to reward in the lab relate to daily life emotional functioning, supporting the RewP as an ecologically valid marker of positive affect functioning among youth.

The effects of rumination on internalising symptoms in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic among mothers and their offspring: a brief report.

As a result of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, anxiety and depressive symptoms have risen among children and adults. However, it remains unclear why the effects of the pandemic are so salient for certain individuals. This study examined rumination, a well-established risk factor for internalising disorders, as a predictor of prospective increases in anxiety and depression symptoms in mothers and their offspring. Change in rumination during the pandemic was also examined as a predictor of symptom transmission at the dyadic level. Fifty-three biological mother-child dyads were recruited from two longitudinal studies that had completed their respective baselines prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Mothers and youth (ages 9-15 years, 77.4% female) completed measures of depression and anxiety symptoms and rumination before and during the pandemic. Results revealed baseline rumination was positively associated with internalising symptom changes for mothers, but not youth. Moreover, pre-to-peri pandemic changes in rumination were associated with prospective increases in mother and youth internalising symptoms. Finally, results revealed a significant correlation for pre-to-peri pandemic depressive symptom change among mothers and youth; however, rumination did not mediate this association. Findings highlight changes in rumination as a potential mechanism for internalising symptom risk during the COVID-19 pandemic across development.