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Background and Objectives: Depression has been associated with alterations in social functioning. Decoding and understanding others' mental states and adaptive reasoning are important for social functioning. This study examined theory of mind (ToM) and socio-moral reasoning (SMR) in adolescent girls with and without depression. Within the depression group, we examined associations between relevant clinical features (depression severity, anxiety symptoms and borderline personality traits) and ToM and SMR.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted, whereby 43 adolescent girls (mean age = 16.19, SD = 1.24) meeting full or subthreshold criteria for depression and 40 adolescent girls (mean age = 15.44, SD = 1.24) with no psychiatric diagnosis were recruited. ToM was assessed using the Movie for the Assessment of Social Cognition; SMR was evaluated via the Socio-Moral Reasoning Aptitude Level task.Results: Analyses of covariance indicated that adolescents with depression did not differ from controls in ToM abilities but showed lower socio-maturity scores on the SMR task. This difference disappeared after controlling for the number of words used to justify responses. Amongst adolescents with depression, multiple linear regression analyses revealed that higher levels of borderline personality traits were associated with lower levels of mentalization (ToM task), and more severe depressive symptoms were associated with lower socio-moral maturity stages (SMR task) LIMITATIONS: Directional associations were not studied, and the sample included only girls.Conclusions: Findings may help to explain clinical heterogeneity in social cognitive functioning observed in individuals with depression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Adolescents with depression were marginally faster than those in the comparison group to recognise sadness, although this trend disappeared once covarying for age and use of antidepressant medication. • Within the depression group, severity of depression symptoms and borderline personality features were associated with poorer emotional facial expression recognition (EFER) performance. • Discrepancies between group and within-group differences may explain some of the clinical heterogeneity observed in studies of EFER amongst adolescents with depression. • Studying clinical features in relation to EFER in adolescents with depression allows for a more nuanced understanding of social difficulties that may be experienced in depression. Studies have reported that emotional facial expression recognition (EFER) may be altered in individuals with depression. This study examined EFER in adolescent girls with and without depression and further examined associations between relevant clinical features of depression and EFER. Fifty adolescent girls aged 12 to 19 years old meeting criteria for depression or subthreshold levels of symptomatology and 55 adolescent girls with no psychiatric diagnosis completed EFER tasks. Reaction time and accuracy for recognising expressions at high and low intensities, and sensitivity in recognising happiness, sadness, anger and fear were assessed. Data were analysed using linear mixed models. Adolescents with depression were marginally faster than those in the comparison group to recognize sadness, although this trend disappeared once covarying for age and antidepressant use. Amongst adolescents with depression, clinical features were associated with poorer EFER performance. In contrast, anxiety symptoms were linked to better accuracy and heightened sensitivity towards happiness. A better understanding of EFER in adolescent girls with and without depression, and how clinical features might be associated with altered patterns of EFER could help to explain clinical heterogeneity observed in such studies of adolescents with depression. Knowledge of socio-cognitive alterations associated with depression will help to better develop and tailor interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stress during early development produces lasting effects on psychopathological outcomes. We analysed the impact of prior intermittent, physical stress (IPS) during early adolescence (PD 22–33) on anxiety-like behaviour of female rats in adulthood. After behavioural testing, we used immunohistochemistry for the 5-HT transporter (SERT) to evaluate 5-HT innervation profiles in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and ventral hippocampus (VH). Administration of IPS (i.e., water immersion, elevated platform, foot shock) in early adolescence increased rats’ anxiety-like behaviour in the elevated plus-maze but had no effects in the shock-probe burying test. In the social interaction test, IPS decreased social interaction, and this effect was driven by selective decreases in the frequency of playfighting with no evident changes in contact and investigative behaviours. Selective stress-induced increases in the density of SERT- ir positive fibres were found in the infralimbic (IL) subregion of the mPFC but not in the cingulate or prelimbic (PL) subregions. IPS in early adolescence did not affect 5-HT innervation profiles in any sub-fields of the VH. Our findings confirm and extend on earlier evidence that stress during early adolescence promotes the emergence of an anxious phenotype and provide novel evidence that these effects are associated with increased 5-HT innervation of the IL mPFC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Subthreshold depression is highly prevalent in adolescence, but compared to major depressive disorder, the clinical impact is under-researched. The aim of this review was to compare subthreshold depression and major depressive disorder in adolescents by reviewing available literature on epidemiology, risk factors, illness trajectories, brain anatomy and function, genetics, and treatment response.Methods: We conducted a scoping review of papers on subthreshold depression and major depressive disorder in adolescence published in English. Studies in adults were included when research in adolescence was not available.Results: We found that individuals with subthreshold depression were similar to individuals with major depressive disorder in several regards, including female/male ratio, onset, functional impairment, comorbidity, health care utilization, suicidal ideation, genetic predisposition, brain alterations, and treatment response. Further, subthreshold depression was about two times more common than major depressive disorder.Limitations: The definition of subthreshold depression is highly variable across studies. Adolescent-specific data are limited in the areas of neurobiology and treatment.Conclusions: The findings of the current review support the idea that subthreshold depression is of clinical importance and provide evidence for a spectrum, versus categorical model, for depressive symptomatology. Given the frequency of subthreshold depression escalating to major depressive disorder, a greater recognition and awareness of the significance of subthreshold depression in research, clinical practice and policy-making may facilitate the development and application of early prevention and intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing studies suggest that dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) may be important for human brain development and cognition. For example, molecular studies have hinted at the critical role of DHEA in enhancing brain plasticity. Studies of human brain development also support the notion that DHEA is involved in preserving cortical plasticity. Further, some, though not all, studies show that DHEA administration may lead to improvements in working memory in adults. Yet these findings remain limited by an incomplete understanding of the specific neuroanatomical mechanisms through which DHEA may impact the CNS during development. Here we examined associations between DHEA, cortico-hippocampal structural covariance, and working memory (216 participants [female=123], age range 6–22 years old, mean age: 13.6 +/−3.6 years, each followed for a maximum of 3 visits over the course of 4 years). In addition to administering performance-based, spatial working memory tests to these children, we also collected ecological, parent ratings of working memory in everyday situations. We found that increasingly higher DHEA levels were associated with a shift toward positive insular-hippocampal and occipito-hippocampal structural covariance. In turn, DHEA-related insular-hippocampal covariance was associated with lower spatial working memory but higher overall working memory as measured by the ecological parent ratings. Taken together with previous research, these results support the hypothesis that DHEA may optimize cortical functions related to general attentional and working memory processes, but impair the development of bottom-up, hippocampal-to-cortical connections, resulting in impaired encoding of spatial cues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]