The role of avoidance motivation in the relationship between reward sensitivity and depression symptoms in adolescents: An ERP study

•The reduced reward positivity (RewP) has been related to greater depression symptoms and course.•Greater RewP latency was associated with greater depression symptoms and higher behavioral avoidance-motivation, as assessed by self-report.•Blunted reward response was associated with depression only when avoidance motivation was included in the model.•Less efficient processing of reward in adolescents is associated with greater avoidance, which in turn, is associated with depression symptom presentation in cross-sectional analyses.•Results support theories highlighting the role of avoidance of reward (e.g., reward devaluation theory) in depression maintenance. Blunted neural responses to reward in an EEG paradigm (RewP) are associated with vulnerability to depression, but the pathways linking this biomarker to depressive symptoms are unclear. We examined whether the relationship between reward response (RewP mean amplitude and latency) and depression was in part explained by approach-motivated behaviors in adolescents with varying levels of depression. EEG was collected during a game rigged to provide win/loss trials. Longer RewP latency was associated with depression symptoms only when scores on a measure of avoidance motivation were included. These results suggest that treatments targeting avoidance may decrease vulnerability to depressive episodes.