Visual-spatial processing style is associated with psychopathology in adolescents with critical congenital heart disease.

Objective: To determine whether visual-spatial processing style is associated with psychopathology in a large sample of adolescents with critical congenital heart disease (CHD). Local (part-oriented) style was hypothesized to increase risk for internalizing (but not externalizing) forms of psychopathology.

Method: Participants included 278 adolescents with critical CHD (dextro-transposition of the great arteries = 134, tetralogy of Fallot = 58, single-ventricle cardiac anatomy requiring the Fontan procedure = 86). Visual-spatial processing style was indexed using Copy Style Ratings from the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure-Developmental Scoring System. The Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-Aged Children-Present & Lifetime Version was used to determine presence/absence of diagnosable DSM-IV psychiatric disorder(s). Processing style and psychopathology were assessed concurrently.

Results: Thirty-three percent of the sample had a part-oriented processing style. In multivariable binary logistic regression models, part-orientation was associated with more than twice the odds of having an anxiety disorder (lifetime: OR = 2.2, p = .02, 95% CI = 1.1-4.1; current: OR = 2.7, p = .03, 95% CI = 1.1-6.5) but was not associated with an increased risk for ADHD, disruptive behavior, or mood disorders (ps > .05).

Conclusions: Adolescents with critical CHD who approach complex visual-spatial materials in a local, part-oriented fashion are more likely to meet criteria for an anxiety disorder than those who approach complexity more holistically. Part-orientation may make it more difficult for individuals to judge the relative importance of isolated details and engage in more adaptive perspective-taking.