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Symposia

Transdiagnostic

Session: Using Emotion Regulation to Build Resilience against Stress – Innovative Research and Intervention Insights

2 - (SYM 55) Emotion Regulatory Domain of Executive Functioning, Inflammation, and Subsequent Depression-onset Among Adversity Exposed Adolescents

Saturday, November 18, 2023

10:30 AM – 11:30 AM PST

Location: Ashnola (301). Level 3

Speaker(s)

Kate R. Kuhlman, Ph.D. (she/her/hers)

Assistant Professor
University of California, Irvine
Irvine, California

Co-author(s)

MI

Michael Irwin, M.D.

Professor
University of California, Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Michelle G. Craske, Ph.D.

Professor of Psychology, Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences
University of California Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
SC

Steve Cole, Ph.D.

Professor
University of California, Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
AF

Andrew Fuligni, Ph.D.

Professor
University of California, Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
JB

Julienne Bower, Ph.D.

Professor
University of California, Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California

Background: Depression-onset during adolescence is associated with a more recurrent and severe disease trajectory. Identifying modifiable pathways through which depression first develops during adolescence is critical to the development of effective prevention programs. Inflammation has been linked to the pathogenesis of depression, particularly in high-risk populations. The present study aimed to characterize one pathway through which inflammation may lead to depression in a high-risk sample of adolescents, namely the capacity for executive control in emotional situations.

Method: A community sample of adolescents (N = 82; 45.1% female), over-sampled for exposure to early life adversity (ELA), provided blood samples for the measurement of plasma C-reactive protein, IL-6, IL-10, IL-8, TNF-α, and IFN-γ. Their parents completed a questionnaire about their child’s executive functioning (BRIEF-2), including composite indices of cognitive, behavioral, and emotional regulation. Both the adolescent and their caregiver participated in semi-structured diagnostic interviews at study enrollment and 12-months later to determine the absence of depression at study enrollment and occurrence of any major depressive episodes during the subsequent 12-months.

Results: Higher concentrations of IL-10 were non-significantly associated with the onset of depression during the 12-month study period, p = .10. Higher IL-10 was associated with worse executive functioning in the emotion regulation domain, p = .0002. Worse executive function in the emotion regulation domain was associated with a higher likelihood of depression-onset during the 12-month study period, p = .02. There was a significant indirect effect of IL-10 on depression-onset over the following 12-months via executive functioning in the emotion regulation domain, ab = 1.29 (SE = 267925.36) 95%CI[0.096, 23.71]. This mechanism was specific to youth exposed to ELA.

Conclusions: This multi-modal, multi-informant, prospective longitudinal study provides evidence that inflammation may lead to depression onset, in part, through executive functioning in emotion regulatory domains. Efforts to determine for whom this pathway is relevant and whether these observations can be leveraged to improve prevention programs are needed.