Performance-based interpretation bias in clinically anxious youths: relationships with attention, anxiety, and negative cognition.

Performance-based interpretation bias in clinically anxious youths: relationships with attention, anxiety, and negative cognition.
Behav Ther. 2014 Sep;45(5):594-605
Authors: Rozenman M, Amir N, Weersing VR
Abstract
This preliminary investigation sought to examine basic interpretive biases, as assessed via performance-based means, in the context of anxious symptomatology, attention, and negative cognition in children and adolescents. At a single assessment, 26 youths diagnosed with primary separation anxiety, social phobia, or generalized anxiety disorder completed performance-based assessments of interpretation and attention. Youths and parents also completed diagnostic interviews and youths completed a measure of negative self-statements. Components of interpretation (threat-valence judgments and speed of responding) were examined, and interpretation was explored as a correlate of youth anxiety, attention bias, and negative self-statements. Results found percentage of negative interpretations endorsed as the strongest predictor of anxiety symptoms; this index was also correlated with attention bias. Slower rejection of benign interpretations was also associated with youth-reported negative self-statements.This initial investigation provides support for a relationship between interpretation bias and anxiety and preliminary evidence for a relationship between attention and interpretation biases. Continued research dismantling the sta...

Source: Behavior Therapy - July 20, 2014 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Rozenman M, Amir N, Weersing VR Tags: Behav Ther Source Type: research