Sluggish cognitive tempo and positive valence systems: Unique relations with greater reward valuation but less willingness to work.

Background: Research has started conceptualizing sluggish cognitive tempo (SCT) within the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC), but no study has tested SCT symptomatology in relation to the positive valence systems.

Methods: Participants (N = 4,679; 18-29 years; M = 19.08, SD = 1.36; 69% female; 80.9% White) enrolled in six universities in the United States completed self-reported measures of positive valence systems, SCT, and psychopathology dimensions.

Results: SCT symptoms were uniquely associated with greater reward valuation and expectancy of reward, but less willingness to work for reward. SCT symptoms were not uniquely related to initial and sustained response to reward. Conversely, depressive symptoms remained uniquely associated with greater reward valuation but less expectancy, willingness to work, initial, and sustained response to reward.

Limitations: The present study included a relatively homogenous sample of college-age students, solely relied on self-report measures of the positive valence systems, and analyses were conducted cross-sectionally.

Conclusions: Findings demonstrated that SCT has unique relations with various components of the positive valence system while controlling for commonly co-occurring psychopathology dimensions. Future research should continue investigating relations between SCT and positive valence systems to understand whether these domains may be targets for prevention and intervention.