Preprint · Mar 26, 2021
Heightened Depression and Executive Functioning Bidirectionally Impair One Another: Evidence from Within-Person Latent Change and Cross-Lagged Models
By Tong YA, Newman MG
Background: Scar and vulnerability models assert that increased psychopathology maypredict subsequent executive functioning deficits (and vice versa) over protracted timescales, yet most prior work on this topic has been cross-sectional. Thus, we tested the within- and between- person relations between EF, depression and anxiety. Method: Older adult participants (n = 856) were assessed across 4 waves, approximately 2 years apart. Performance-based EF and caregiver-rated symptom measures were administered. Bivariate latent change score and random-intercept cross-lagged panel models were conducted. Results: Within persons, RI- CLPMs revealed that prior greater depression forecasted lower subsequent EF, and vice versa (d = -0.292 vs. -0.292). BCS models showed that within-person rise in depression predicted EF decreases, and vice versa (d = -0.245 vs. -0.245). No within-person, cross-lagged, EF-anxiety relations emerged. Further, significant negative between-person EF-symptom relations were observed (d = -0.264–-0.395). Discussion: Prospective, within-person findings offer some evidence for developmental scar and vulnerability models.