Cardiff University | Prifysgol Caerdydd ORCA
Online Research @ Cardiff 
WelshClear Cookie - decide language by browser settings

Age- and puberty-dependent association between IQ score in early childhood and depressive symptoms in adolescence

Glaser, B., Gunnell, D., Timpson, N. J., Joinson, C., Zammit, Stanley ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2647-9211, Smith, G. Davey and Lewis, G. 2011. Age- and puberty-dependent association between IQ score in early childhood and depressive symptoms in adolescence. Psychological Medicine 41 (02) , pp. 333-343. 10.1017/S0033291710000814

Full text not available from this repository.

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Lower cognitive functioning in early childhood has been proposed as a risk factor for depression in later life but its association with depressive symptoms during adolescence has rarely been investigated. Our study examines the relationship between total intelligence quotient (IQ) score at age 8 years, and depressive symptoms at 11, 13, 14 and 17 years. METHOD: Study participants were 5250 children and adolescents from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and their Children (ALSPAC), UK, for whom longitudinal data on depressive symptoms were available. IQ was assessed with the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children III, and self-reported depressive symptoms were measured with the Short Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (SMFQ). RESULTS: Multi-level analysis on continuous SMFQ scores showed that IQ at age 8 years was inversely associated with depressive symptoms at age 11 years, but the association changed direction by age 13 and 14 years (age-IQ interaction, p<0.0001; age squared-IQ interaction, p<0.0001) when a higher IQ score was associated with a higher risk of depressive symptoms. This change in IQ effect was also found in relation to pubertal stage (pubertal stage-IQ interaction, 0.00049<p=0.038). At age 17 years, however, sex-specific differences emerged (sex-age squared-IQ interaction, p=0.0075). Whilst the risk effect of higher childhood IQ scores for depressive symptoms declined in females, and some analyses even supported an inverse association by age 17 years, it persisted in males. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that the association between cognitive ability in childhood and depressive symptoms in adolescence varies according to age and/or pubertal stage.

Item Type: Article
Date Type: Publication
Status: Published
Schools: MRC Centre for Neuropsychiatric Genetics and Genomics (CNGG)
Medicine
Subjects: R Medicine > R Medicine (General)
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISSN: 0033-2917
Last Modified: 31 Oct 2022 09:24
URI: https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/80909

Citation Data

Cited 22 times in Scopus. View in Scopus. Powered By Scopus® Data

Actions (repository staff only)

Edit Item Edit Item