Preliminary Evidence for an Association Between Social Anxiety Symptoms and Avoidance of Negative Faces in School-Age Children

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Bibliographic Details
Title: Preliminary Evidence for an Association Between Social Anxiety Symptoms and Avoidance of Negative Faces in School-Age Children
Language: English
Authors: Stirling, Lucy J., Eley, Thalia C., Clark, David M.
Source: Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology. 2006 35(3):440-445.
Availability: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. 10 Industrial Avenue, Mahwah, NJ 07430. Tel: 800-926-6579; Tel: 201-258-2200; Fax: 201-236-0072; e-mail: journals@erlbaum.com; Web site: https://www.erlbaum.com.
Peer Reviewed: Y
Page Count: 6
Publication Date: 2006
Document Type: Journal Articles
Reports - Research
Descriptors: Negative Attitudes, Anxiety, Correlation, Interpersonal Competence, Attention, Bias, Symptoms (Individual Disorders), Nonverbal Communication, Children, Social Cognition
DOI: 10.1207/s15374424jccp3503_9
ISSN: 1537-4416
Abstract: Attentional biases with regard to emotional facial expressions are associated with social anxiety in adults. We investigated whether similar relations exist in children. Seventy-nine 8- to 11-year-olds completed a probe detection task. On a given trial, 1 of 3 pairs of faces was presented: negative-neutral, negative-positive, and positive-neutral. The strongest association was between social anxiety symptoms and avoidance of negative faces from negative-neutral trials (r = - 0.32), with all other correlations less than half that size. This association was largely due to avoidance of angry and fearful expressions. These results provide preliminary evidence that anxiety is associated with attentional biases in children as in adults.
Abstractor: Author
Entry Date: 2006
Accession Number: EJ739955
Database: ERIC
Description
Abstract:Attentional biases with regard to emotional facial expressions are associated with social anxiety in adults. We investigated whether similar relations exist in children. Seventy-nine 8- to 11-year-olds completed a probe detection task. On a given trial, 1 of 3 pairs of faces was presented: negative-neutral, negative-positive, and positive-neutral. The strongest association was between social anxiety symptoms and avoidance of negative faces from negative-neutral trials (r = - 0.32), with all other correlations less than half that size. This association was largely due to avoidance of angry and fearful expressions. These results provide preliminary evidence that anxiety is associated with attentional biases in children as in adults.
ISSN:1537-4416
DOI:10.1207/s15374424jccp3503_9