Depressive Symptoms and Adaptive Risk Decision-Making in Adolescents: Evidence from the Balloon Analogue Risk Task

Adolescence is characterized by increased risk-related decision-making, yet how depressive symptoms relate to adolescents' adaptation to uncertain environments remains unclear. The present study examined how depressive symptoms, risk level, and task stage were associated with performance on the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART) in junior high school students aged 12 to 13 years (N = 214). Across groups, adolescents demonstrated sensitivity to the risk level, showing higher pumping, fewer explosions, and greater accumulated rewards in low-risk relative to moderate- and high-risk conditions. Participants also exhibited improved performance from early to later trials. Depressive symptoms were not associated with overt risk-taking behavior, as indexed by pumping frequency or explosion rates. However, adolescents with elevated depressive symptoms consistently earned lower permanent scores and showed less differentiation between moderate- and high-risk conditions, suggesting reduced efficiency in adapting to task demands. These findings suggest that depressive symptoms in adolescence may be associated with reduced decision efficiency rather than global differences in risk-taking. More broadly, the results support a multi-process account of adolescent decision-making, in which emotional vulnerability interacts with task structure and learning processes to shape behavioral outcomes.