Exploring the Effects and Implications of Anxiety and Depression on Decision-making in Young People

Abstract

Is decision-making impaired in youth suffering from an emerging mood disorder? With data collected from a youth mental health population, we aim to address this question applying self-reported questionnaires to evaluate emerging mood disorders in youth, and economic experiments to evaluate individual’s economic decision making. Thirty youth aged 16-25 years (mean age 19.22) were recruited from youth mental health clinics in New South Wales, with self-report psychological data (QIDS-A17, K10 and SPHERE-12) collected at two time points, six to eight weeks apart. 15 (50%) participants rated high on all these, scoring “severely” depressed (QIDS-A17 ≥16), severely” anxious (K10 ≥30) and “Level 1” for SPHERE-12. In Session 2, of the returning 25 patients, 11 (44%) participants continued to rate high on all psychological scores. Study 1 assessed within subject, and group tolerance of risk as impacted by mood (anxiety and depression). Participants were presented with monetary choices offering risky or non-risky choices. A risky choice is when a percentage of risk is easier to gauge, compared to ambiguous choices where the degree of risk is unclear. Study 1 determined if mood made a person more or less risk tolerant. When correlating mood with risky decision-making, we found those with mainly severe anxiety were risk averse. Using another economic principle, the Generalized Axiom of Revealed Preferences (GARP) we explored correlations between changes in mood and changes in economic rationality. Here, youth with severe psychological symptoms demonstrated greater deviations using GARP than those with less severe symptoms and other, normative data from other studies. Overall, our economic experiments point to impaired cognitive decision-making processes in youth self-rated with anxiety. This interdisciplinary approach may have implications for characterization of mood disorders in young people.