Risk taking to obtain reward: gender differences and associations with emotional and depressive symptoms in a nationally representative cohort of UK adolescents

Background Large population-based studies of neuropsychological factors that characterize or precede depressive symptoms are rare and we know little about gender differences in these associations. Methods The Millennium Cohort is a representative UK birth cohort of children born between 2000 and 2002. The Cambridge Gambling Task (CGT) was completed at ages 11 (n=12,355) and 14 (n=10,578). Our main exposure was proportion of points gambled, when odds of winning were above chance (risk taking to obtain reward). We also examined how much adolescents adjusted bets as odds of winning increased (risk adjustment). Outcomes were emotional symptoms at age 11 (SDQ) and depressive symptoms at age 14 (sMFQ). We calculated cross-sectional associations, and a longitudinal association from age 11 to 14, using linear regressions before and after adjusting for confounders. Results Females were less risk taking than males (e.g. females bet 9.22, 95% CI 8.65 to 9.80, percentage points lower at age 11). In univariable models there were cross-sectional associations between risk taking and emotional (age 11) or depressive (age 14) symptoms (e.g. at age 14, a 20-percentage point increase in risk taking was associated with a 0.52 reduction in sMFQ points, 95% CI -.71 to -.33). However, cross-sectional associations were explained by gender differences (at age 14 the association adjusted for gender was: .05, 95% CI -.15 to .25). Longitudinally, there was weak evidence of an association between risk taking and depressive symptoms in females only (a 20-point increase in risk taking at age 11 was associated with a reduction of 0.31 sMFQ points at age 14 (95% CI -.60 to -.02). Conclusions We found evidence that adolescent females were less likely to take risks than adolescent males. There was no strong evidence of an association between risk taking and emotional and depressive symptoms, after accounting for gender. Abbreviations CGT: Millennium Cohort Study (MCS); Cambridge Gambling Task (CGT); Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ); sMFQ: short Mood and Feelings Questionnaire.