Perceived stress and subjective memory complaints in young adults: the mediating role of the executive functions

Introduction. Previous studies have shown that executive functions can be mediators between perceived stress and subjective memory complaints. However, it has not been evaluated which executive functions are those that most mediate this relationship. Aim. To determine if executive functions have a mediating role in the relationship between perceived stress and subjective memory complaints, and which ones have the greatest explanatory power. Patients and methods. The sample consisted of 743 university students (76.4% women), with an average age of 22.24 +/- 3.64 years. The subjective memory complaints were evaluated with the Memory Failure of Everyday Questionnaire, the stress with the Perceived Stress Scale, and the executive functions with the Prefrontal Symptoms Inventory. Results. The executive functions and the perceived stress explained altogether 57% of the subjective memory complaints, being the attentional problems and the executive control problems the two variables with a greater weight in the model. On the other hand, the executive control problems, attentional problems and social behaviour problems showed a mediating effect between perceived stress and subjective memory complaints. Conclusions. The executive control problems and the attentional problems could be factors of choice for clinical intervention, since they act on their own as generators of subjective memory complaints and, moreover, are involved in mediation processes of perceived stress.