Associations between anxiety and working memory components in clinically evaluated children with and without ADHD

Area of Science:

• Child Psychology
• Neurodevelopmental Disorders
• Cognitive Science

Background:

• Theoretical models suggest working memory deficits are linked to anxiety in children, but empirical evidence is inconsistent.
• The complex nature of working memory and anxiety, alongside the frequent co-occurrence with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), complicates research.
• ADHD is known to be associated with significant working memory impairments, necessitating its consideration in anxiety research.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the associations between latent working memory and anxiety subcomponents in children using bifactor modeling.
• To examine whether these associations differ between children with and without ADHD.

Main Methods:

• A sample of 340 children (ages 8-13), including an oversample of 197 children with ADHD, was carefully phenotyped.
• Bifactor modeling was employed to assess relationships between domain-general and domain-specific anxiety factors and working memory components (phonological, central executive, visuospatial).
• Multigroup analysis was used to compare findings between children with and without ADHD.

Main Results:

• Domain-general anxiety was significantly associated with poorer phonological short-term memory (r = -0.22, p = 0.01).
• No significant associations were found between domain-general anxiety and central executive or visuospatial short-term memory.
• Domain-specific anxiety factors (cognitive worry, physiological arousal) did not uniquely predict any working memory components. The observed associations were consistent for children with and without ADHD.

Conclusions:

• Findings implicate domain-general anxiety, rather than specific worry or arousal, in phonological short-term memory difficulties in children.
• The study did not find unique relationships between domain-specific anxiety facets and working memory components.
• The relationship between general anxiety and phonological short-term memory appears comparable in children with and without ADHD, warranting further investigation.