(PS9-D91) Worried Thoughts and Depressive Symptoms Predict Working Memory Capacity

Internalizing disorders have long been associated with cognitive deficits (Tandon, Cardeli, & Lubi). In particular, working memory has been scrutinized for its susceptibility to interference from symptoms of anxiety and depression (Nikolin et al., 2021; Moran, 2016; Owens et al. 2012). However, the nature of this interference remains disputed.

The present study aims to elucidate the relationship between working memory capacity and children’s self-reported internalizing symptoms by examining possible interactions between self-reported worry (i.e., cognitive components of anxiety) and depressive symptomology. Participants were 91 children at a university training clinic who completed the revised Children’s Manifest Anxiety Scale – 2^nd Edition (RCMAS-2), the Children’s Depressive Inventory – 2^nd Edition (CDI-2), and the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children – 5^th Edition (WISC-V). The mean child age was 10.73 years (sd = 2.79), and 52.7% of the participants identified as female. 78.7% of participants reported their race as white, non-Hispanic, while approximately 12.9% reported their race as African American. IRB approval, consent, and assent were obtained prior to completion of measures.

A hierarchical regression was conducted to examine the impact of self-reported worry (measured by the Worry T-score on RCMAS-2) and depressive symptoms (measured by total depression T-score on the CDI-2) on working memory capacity (measured by the Working Memory Index on the WISC-V). In the first step, depressive symptoms and worry were entered independently. In the second step, the interaction between the two was entered. Results indicated that, independently, neither worry nor depressive symptoms significantly predicted working memory capacity [R2 = .030, F(2,89) = 2.410, p > 0.05]. However, the interaction between worry and depressive symptoms did add unique variance and significantly improved model fit [R2 = .071, F(3,88) = 3.322, p < 0.05].

Overall, the interaction between children’s self-reported worry and depressive systems had a significant relationship to working memory capacity. Results suggest that cognitive worry has a differential relationship with working memory dependent on levels of depressive symptoms. Future studies should continue to examine the relationship between working memory capacity and various components of anxiety and depression.