A study published in the *Journal of Affective Disorders* highlights the connection between depression in early adolescence and cognitive difficulties, especially inattention. The findings suggest that addressing attention problems in school could be an effective strategy to help adolescents struggling with their mental health.

Depression affects approximately 8% of adolescents worldwide, negatively impacting their relationships, physical health, and academic performance. Scientists recognize that depression in adults is often associated with cognitive impairment, affecting the ability to think, remember, and concentrate.

Previous research on adolescents presented contradictory results on whether depression causes cognitive problems. Most studies were cross-sectional, examining a single point in time, which prevented determining causality. This study, which used data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study, a long-term project in the United States, analyzed the relationship between depression and cognition over time.

Study author Daphne J. Korczak, of the SickKids’ Chair in Child and Youth Medical Psychiatry, emphasized the importance of understanding the temporal sequence of depression and cognitive problems to direct specific interventions and improve educational and mental health outcomes in school-aged children.

The study included 10,552 participants, with an average age of 9.9 years at the beginning, of which approximately 48% were female. Researchers evaluated participants at three different times: an initial assessment, a two-year follow-up, and another at four years. Questionnaires completed by caregivers were used to measure the severity of depressive symptoms, and clinical interviews with the children and their caregivers were used to determine if they met the criteria for a formal diagnosis of depression.

External factors such as age, sex at birth, ethnicity, caregiver education, annual household income, and the presence of other mental health conditions were controlled to ensure the accuracy of the results.

In the initial assessment, depression was linked to lower performance in attention, long-term memory, working memory, and executive function. However, in the longitudinal follow-up, most of these initial cognitive deficits disappeared, except for inattention, which showed a persistent and reciprocal relationship with depression. The results suggest that depression and attention deficits may exacerbate each other over time, affecting academic performance and daily functioning.

Dr. Korczak commented that the findings suggest changes in the presentation of depression symptoms as children become teenagers, with cognitive symptoms more prominent in younger children. As teenagers grow older, depression tends to shift towards emotional and social issues, which could explain the decrease in direct effects on memory and planning.

Researchers found that depressive symptoms predicted better language skills over time, possibly related to rumination and the development of a broader vocabulary to describe emotional pain. This finding requires further research to be fully understood.

Dr. Korczak highlighted the educational and clinical implications of the findings, underlining the importance of considering the role of depression when inattention is identified in educational settings. In clinical settings, it is suggested to evaluate children and adolescents referred for depression or attention difficulties for both problems, in order to provide the most appropriate academic accommodations and psychiatric treatment. The limitations of the study include the reliance on caregiver reports and the need to investigate patterns in young people with more severe depression.