Reward function is increasingly considered to be an important aspect of affective disorders such as depression and bipolar disorder. Conceptual models of affective disorders emphasize disrupted reward function as a neural characteristic of low positive affect in depression, and studies with adults have indicated that brain function in reward-related regions distinguishes those with depression from healthy controls. Based on an interest in adolescence, as both a vulnerable period for the onset of affective disorders and a period of ongoing development of neural reward circuitry, an emerging literature is now addressing reward-related brain function in adolescents with depression. Results have generally paralleled those from adult studies and have indicated value in studying reward function in relation to the etiology, pathophysiology, and treatment of depression in young people.

Functional neuroimaging findings indicate that adolescents with depression (Forbes et al, 2009) and adolescents at risk for depression (eg, Gotlib et al, 2010) exhibit low striatal response to rewarding stimuli, such as money or happy facial expressions. This altered brain function has been observed during the anticipation of reward and the receipt of reward, suggesting that adolescent depression involves changes in both the motivation to obtain reward and the enjoyment of rewards once obtained.

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