Using the Emotion Word Fluency Test as a Means for Identifying and Predicting Depression in Collegiate Athletes

Open Access
- Author:
- Yacovelli, Steven John
- Area of Honors:
- Psychology
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Science
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- Peter Andrew Arnett, Thesis Supervisor
Peter Andrew Arnett, Thesis Honors Advisor
Rick R Jacobs, Faculty Reader - Keywords:
- Neuropsychology
concussions
depression
mild traumatic brain injury
emotion word fluency test
affective bias - Abstract:
- There has been increasing media attention with regards to sports-related concussions, particularly on depression following injury. While extensive research has been done on proper neurological testing to identify concussed athletes, little research has been conducted to identify and predict depression post-concussion. This research utilizes an affective-based measure, the Emotion Word Fluency Test (EWFT), to objectively identify depression in collegiate athletes at Penn State University. To do this, the test was statistically analyzed in relation to another validated affective-based measure, the Affective Word List (AWL), as well as a self-report Post-Concussion Symptom Scale, and the Beck Depression Inventory Fast-Screen (BDI-FS). All tests were a part of Penn State’s neuropsychological concussion program, and athletes were administered all tests as baseline measures. In total, 160 participants completed the battery. Overall, it was found that the EWFT was significantly correlated with the AWL (p < 0.05), and there was a statistical trend for the correlation with the BDI-FS. In addition, the EWFT Positive Bias group (those who generated more positive than negative words) showed significantly higher BDI-FS scores when compared to the Negative Bias group (those who generated more negative than positive words). Finally, it was found that AWL and EWFT Positive and Negative Bias groups were significantly related as well. These findings suggest that the EWFT is a valid performance based measure for screening negative mood in collegiate athletes. Still, this research is preliminary, and additional studies with greater and more diverse populations are necessary to generalize the results. Future studies should also explore the use of the EWFT as a depression measure as part of a post-concussion battery as well.