This cross-sectional study examined whether drift diffusion modeling (DDM) parameters—drift rate, boundary separation, and non-decision time—derived from Stroop and Emotional Stroop tasks interacted with pubertal timing to predict depressive symptoms in 103 racially/ethnically diverse adolescents (mean age 12.58 years, 48.5% female).
Earlier pubertal timing robustly predicted more depressive symptoms across all models. Boundary separation—but not drift rate or non-decision time—significantly interacted with pubertal timing in both tasks (Stroop: B=0.26, corrected p=.01; Emotional Stroop: B=0.23, corrected p=.003): earlier-maturing youth with *higher* boundary separation (more cautious decision-making) showed the greatest depressive symptoms. Shorter non-decision time was also linked to more depressive symptoms on the Emotional Stroop (B=−0.67, corrected p=.001), but no interaction effects were significant for drift rate or non-decision time.
- Cross-sectional design prevents causal or directional conclusions. - Small sample (n=103) limits power for higher-order (3-way) interactions and subgroup analyses by sex or race/ethnicity. - Puberty assessed by self-report only; no hormonal or Tanner staging data collected.
Early-maturing adolescents who also show overly cautious or deliberate decision-making styles may represent a high-risk subgroup for depressive symptoms worth screening. Interventions targeting both the social demands of early puberty and over-controlled cognitive-affective patterns (e.g., rumination, indecision) could be especially warranted for this group.
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