Development of social anxiety: social interaction predictors of implicit and explicit fear of negative evaluation

The Reciprocal Relations between Parental Psychological Control and Social Anxiety and the Mediating Role of Self-Concept Clarity Among Chinese Early Adolescents

Although parental psychological control has been well-documented as a significant predictor of social anxiety among adolescents, few studies examine how changes in parental psychological control and adolescent social anxiety are reciprocally related at the within-person level, especially in Chinese culture. This longitudinal study examined reciprocal relations between parental psychological control and social anxiety, and the potential mediating role of self-concept clarity, by disentangling between- and within-person effects. A total of 4731 students (44.9% girls; Mage = 10.91 years, SD = 0.72) participated in a four-wave longitudinal study with 6-month intervals. Results from random intercept cross-lagged panel modeling indicated that parental psychological control directly predicted social anxiety, and vice versa. Parental psychological control indirectly predicted social anxiety via self-concept clarity, and social anxiety also indirectly predicted parental psychological control via self-concept clarity. These findings reveal a vicious cycle of mutual influence between parental psychological control and adolescent social anxiety in Chinese youth, and highlight the crucial role of self-concept clarity in the interplay between parenting and adolescent social functioning.

Social Media Use and Internalizing Symptoms in Clinical and Community Adolescent Samples: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Importance

In response to widespread concerns about social media's influence on adolescent mental health, most research has studied adolescents from the general population, overlooking clinical groups.

Objective

To synthesize, quantify, and compare evidence on the association between social media use and internalizing symptoms in adolescent clinical and community samples.

Data Sources

Peer-reviewed publications from MEDLINE, Web of Science, PsycInfo, and Scopus (initially reviewed in May 2022 and updated in October 2023) and preprints from Europe PubMed Central (February 2023) published in English between 2007 and 2023.

Study Selection

Two blinded reviewers initially identified 14 211 cross-sectional and longitudinal studies quantifying the association between social media use and internalizing symptoms, excluding experimental studies and randomized clinical trials.

Data Extraction and Synthesis

PRISMA and MOOSE guidelines were followed, pooling data using a random-effects model and robust variance estimation. The quality of evidence was assessed using the Quality of Survey Studies in Psychology Checklist.

Main Outcomes and Measures

Articles were included if they reported at least 1 quantitative measure of social media use (time spent, active vs passive use, activity, content, user perception, and other) and internalizing symptoms (anxiety, depression, or both).

Results

The 143 studies reviewed included 1 094 890 adolescents and 886 effect sizes, 11% of which examined clinical samples. In these samples, a positive and significant meta-correlation was found between social media use and internalizing symptoms, both for time spent (n = 2893; r, 0.08; 95% CI, 0.01 to 0.15; P = .03; I2, 57.83) and user engagement (n = 859; r, 0.12; 95% CI, 0.09 to 0.15; P = .002; I2, 82.67). These associations mirrored those in community samples.

Conclusions and Relevance

The findings in this study highlight a lack of research on clinical populations, a critical gap considering public concerns about the increase in adolescent mental health symptoms at clinical levels. This paucity of evidence not only restricts the generalizability of existing research but also hinders our ability to evaluate and compare the link between social media use and mental health in clinical vs nonclinical populations.

Social interaction anxiety and sleep quality in youth: Individual difference in childhood adversity and cardiac vagal control

BACKGROUND

Social interaction anxiety and sleep problems are prevalent during adolescence. Social interaction anxiety undermines sleep quality, however, little is known whether the association between social interaction anxiety and sleep quality is moderated by environmental factors such as childhood adversity and individual factors such as cardiac vagal control. This study sought to investigate the moderating effects of childhood adversity and cardiac vagal control on the link between social interaction anxiety and sleep quality.

METHOD

The Social Interaction Anxiety Scale, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index and the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire were administered to 274 adolescents, who received 3-min resting ECG recording to assess respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) as an index of cardiac vagal control.

RESULTS

Social interaction anxiety was negatively associated with sleep quality, and this association was moderated by childhood adversity and cardiac vagal control. In specific, social interaction anxiety was negatively associated with sleep quality among adolescents with low childhood adversity regardless of cardiac vagal control. Sleep quality was generally disrupted when adolescents exposed to high childhood adversity, but the negative association between social interaction anxiety and sleep quality among adolescents with high childhood adversity could be amortized by high cardiac vagal control.

LIMITATIONS

Cross-sectional design precluded establishing causality among variables.

CONCLUSION

These findings suggest that high cardiac vagal control reflecting better self-regulation might buffer the negative effect of social interaction anxiety on sleep quality particularly among adolescents exposed to early life stress.

The Course of Anxiety-Specific Cognitive Bias Following Daycare/Inpatient Treatment in Youths with Social Phobia and School Absenteeism

Social phobia (SP) is a common mental disorder in youth often accompanied by absence from school, which may require daycare or inpatient intervention (DC/IN). Objective: The present explorative study investigates changes in anxiety-specific implicit assumptions and interpretation bias following DC/IN. Methods: The study included 16 youths with SP (M age = 15.8 [SD = 1.24], females: 62.5 %) participating in DC/IN. We assessed the main outcomes using the Implicit Association Test and Affective Misattribution Procedure. Results: A large effect was shown for reducing implicit assumptions of feeling anxious (p = .142; η2p = .171) and for reducing the implicit interpretation bias (p = .137; η2p = .162). No change was indicated by effect size in implicit assumptions of feeling socially rejected (p = .649; η2p = .016). Social phobia symptoms initially correlated with changes in implicit assumptions of feeling anxious (r = .45). Conclusion: Effect sizes indicate that implicit anxiety-specific assumptions and interpretation bias descriptively improved following DC/IN. Thus, DC/IN may lead to meaningful improvements of anxiety-specific cognition in some individuals with high SP symptoms, emphasizing the relevance of cognitive behavioral approaches in the treatment of SP. Several limitations are discussed.

The reciprocal relationship between depression, social anxiety and aggression in Chinese adolescents: The moderating effects of family functioning

BACKGROUND

Depression, social anxiety, and aggression often co-occur in adolescents. Several theoretical models have been proposed to explain the temporal relationships of these symptoms, with relevant empirical evidence mixed. The role of environmental factors should be taken into consideration.

OBJECTIVES

To examine the temporal relationship between depression, social anxiety, and aggression in adolescents, and to extend previous work by exploring the moderating effects of family functioning.

METHOD

A total of 1947 Chinese adolescents completed the survey questionnaires at two time points: family functioning at baseline, and depression, social anxiety, and aggression at baseline and 6-month follow-up. Data was analyzed using a cross-lagged model.

RESULTS

Bidirectional positive association was found between depression and aggression. However, although social anxiety predicted subsequent depression and aggression, the opposite relationship was not found. Moreover, favorable family functioning alleviated depression and moderated the prediction of social anxiety to depression.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings suggested that clinicians should pay attention to the underlying depressive symptoms of adolescents with aggressive behaviors, and to the level of aggression of adolescents with depression. Interventions on social anxiety may prevent the transformation of social anxiety to depression and aggression. Adaptive family functioning may act as a protective factor for the comorbid depression in adolescents with social anxiety, which can be targeted by relevant interventions.

Fear of negative evaluation and suicidal ideation among college students: the moderating role of impulsivity-like traits

Objective: Fear of negative evaluation (FNE) is a key trait of social anxiety and has been linked to isolation and low self-esteem. Impulsivity has been shown to amplify the risk of socially anxious individuals engaging in risky behaviors such as suicidal behaviors; yet little research has examined associations between FNE and suicidality or the relationship between FNE and impulsivity. Participants/Methods: This study tested whether FNE was associated with suicidal ideation in a sample of 1,816 college students from 10 universities. Analyses also examined whether impulsivity-like traits moderated the relationship between FNE and suicidal ideation. Results: Results showed that FNE was significantly associated with suicidal ideation and the positive association between FNE and suicidal ideation was strongest among individuals with higher negative urgency and lower perseverance. Conclusions: These findings highlight FNE as an important risk factor of suicidal ideation in college students and illuminates potential influence of impulsivity on this relationship.

Family cohesion, shame-proneness, expressive suppression, and adolescent mental health-A path model approach

Objective

The family remains one of the most important relationship systems into early adulthood and provides an important foundation for lifelong mental health. Dysfunctional family cohesion can promote adjustment problems in adolescents and might also affect adolescents' self-concept and strategies for coping with emotional distress. To test these relationships and the underlying mechanisms, we proposed a dual mediation model describing the associations between family cohesion and internalizing and externalizing problems, mediated by shame-proneness and expressive suppression.

Methods

A sample of 526 German-speaking adolescents aged 14 to 18 years from Austria, Germany, and Switzerland participated in an online self-report survey encompassing questionnaires on family cohesion, shame-proneness, expressive suppression, and psychological problems. We tested a path model to examine the indirect pathways of the associations between family cohesion and internalizing and externalizing problems via shame-proneness and expressive suppression, while controlling for age, gender, and guilt-proneness.

Results

We found a significant dual mediation of the associations between family cohesion and internalizing and externalizing problems by shame-proneness and expressive suppression. The indirect pathways were all significant, except for the indirect pathway from family cohesion to externalizing problems via shame-proneness.

Discussion

Our results provide a model for the mechanisms by which disrupted family cohesion can be related to psychological problems in adolescents. Expressive suppression emerged as crucial when considering the consequences of shame-proneness in adolescents, as it was only indirectly related to externalizing problems via expressive suppression.

A Systematic Review of "Helicopter Parenting" and Its Relationship With Anxiety and Depression

Background

Emerging evidence suggests that overprotective and controlling parenting, often referred to as "helicopter parenting" may have negative implications on the child's mental health such as anxiety and depression. However, no systematic review on the topic exists.

Objective

Conducting a systematic review to identify all studies where the relationship between helicopter parenting and symptoms of anxiety and/or depression have been investigated.

Method

A systematic literature search conducted the 3rd of November 2021 yielded 38 eligible studies. Since helicopter parenting is a fairly new construct, this review considered parental control and overprotective parenting to be dimensions of helicopter parenting and thus, eligible for the study. Study quality was assessed in accordance with Campbells Validity Typology.

Results

The majority of the studies included in this review found a direct relationship between helicopter parenting and symptoms of anxiety and depression. However, validity problems undermine these findings with regarding to assessing the causal relationship between helicopter parenting and these symptoms. There were no longitudinal studies of sufficient quality to determine if helicopter parenting precedes the outcome of anxiety and depression.

Conclusion

Even though the majority of the studies included in this systematic review found a relationship between helicopter parenting and anxiety and depression, the evidence for this relationship is insufficient and must be investigated further. Findings suggest that it is important to include both maternal and paternal parenting style in future studies as they could affect the outcome of anxiety and depression differently.

Systematic Review Registration

PROSPERO 2020 CRD42020167465, https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?RecordID=167465.

The Influence of Face Gaze by Physicians on Patient Trust: an Observational Study

BACKGROUND

Physicians' gaze towards their patients may affect patients' trust in them. This is especially relevant considering recent developments, including the increasing use of Electronic Health Records, which affect physicians' gaze behavior. Moreover, socially anxious patients' trust in particular may be affected by the gaze of the physician.

OBJECTIVE

We aimed to evaluate if physicians' gaze towards the face of their patient influenced patient trust and to assess if this relation was stronger for socially anxious patients. We furthermore explored the relation between physicians' gaze and patients' perception of physician empathy and patients' distress.

DESIGN

This was an observational study using eye-tracking glasses and questionnaires.

PARTICIPANTS

One hundred patients and 16 residents, who had not met before, participated at an internal medicine out-patient clinic.

MEASURES

Physicians wore eye-tracking glasses during medical consultations to assess their gaze towards patients' faces. Questionnaires were used to assess patient outcomes. Multilevel analyses were conducted to assess the relation between physicians' relative face gaze time and trust, while correcting for patient background characteristics, and including social anxiety as a moderator. Analyses were then repeated with perceived empathy and distress as outcomes.

RESULTS

More face gaze towards patients was associated with lower trust, after correction for gender, age, education level, presence of caregivers, and social anxiety (β=-0.17, P=0.048). There was no moderation effect of social anxiety nor a relation between face gaze and perceived empathy or distress.

CONCLUSIONS

These results challenge the notion that more physician gaze is by definition beneficial for the physician-patient relationship. For example, the extent of conversation about emotional issues might explain our findings, where more emotional talk could be associated with more intense gazing and feelings of discomfort in the patient. To better understand the relation between physician gaze and patient outcomes, future studies should assess bidirectional face gaze during consultations.

Visuospatial perspective shifting and relational self-association in dispositional shame and guilt

Although dispositional shame and guilt have been distinguished by perceptions of the self and behavioral responses, the underlying information processing patterns remain unclear. We hypothesized that an ability to contemplate alternatives to perceptions of the current environment, i.e., flexibility in perspective shifting, may be essential to both dispositions. Dispositional shame may additionally relate to negative relational knowledge that involves a self-representation of being rejected. One hundred and six community participants rated the two dispositions, and had their flexibility in perspective shifting and internalized self-association with rejection assessed. Regression analysis indicated that a lower cost of perspective shifting was observed with dispositional guilt and shame. Yet, unlike a direct association with perspective shifting for dispositional guilt, it was an interaction between perspective shifting and negative relational knowledge that accounted for dispositional shame. The association of dispositional shame with perspective shifting was contingent upon the tendency to pair the self with rejection.

The social withdrawal and social anxiety feedback loop and the role of peer victimization and acceptance in the pathways

Social withdrawal and social anxiety are believed to have a bidirectional influence on one another, but it is unknown if their relationship is bidirectional, especially within person, and if peer experiences influence this relationship. We investigated temporal sequencing and the strength of effects between social withdrawal and social anxiety, and the roles of peer victimization and acceptance in the pathways. Participants were 2,772 adolescents from the population-based and clinically referred cohorts of the Tracking Adolescents' Individual Lives Survey. Self- and parent-reported withdrawal, and self-reported social anxiety, peer victimization, and perceived peer acceptance were assessed at 11, 13, and 16 years. Random-intercept cross-lagged panel models were used to investigate within-person associations between these variables. There was no feedback loop between withdrawal and social anxiety. Social withdrawal did not predict social anxiety at any age. Social anxiety at 11 years predicted increased self-reported withdrawal at 13 years. Negative peer experiences predicted increased self- and parent-reported withdrawal at 13 years and increased parent-reported withdrawal at 16 years. In turn, self-reported withdrawal at 13 years predicted negative peer experiences at 16 years. In conclusion, adolescents became more withdrawn when they became more socially anxious or experienced greater peer problems, and increasing withdrawal predicted greater victimization and lower acceptance.

Social anxiety among unaccompanied minor refugees in Norway.The association with pre-migration trauma and post-migration acculturation related factors

OBJECTIVE

Unaccompanied refugee minors (URMs), are at high risk for mental health problems, yet there is a lack of knowledge about social anxiety among these youths. The aim of this study was to investigate symptoms of social anxiety among URMs resettled in Norway, and the combined effects of pre-migration traumatic events, post-migration acculturation related factors (perceived discrimination and culture competence in relation both to the heritage and majority cultures) and demographic background variables, over and above the effect of concurrent depressive symptoms.

METHODS

Cross-sectional self-report questionnaire data were collected from 557 URMs from 31 different countries, mainly from Afghanistan (49,6%), Somalia (11,1%), and Iraq (7,0%).

RESULTS

The findings from structural equation model (SEM) showed that the effect of pre-migration traumatic events on social anxiety was non-significant (β = 0.001, p = .09), while perceived discrimination and majority culture competence had unique effects on social anxiety (β = 0.39, p < .001 and β = -0.12, p = .008, respectively) over and above depressive symptoms (β = 0.30, p < .001).

CONCLUSIONS

The findings show that factors of the current socio-cultural developmental context rather than pre-migration war-related traumatic events the youths experienced before migration accounts for variation in social anxiety. Potential practical implications of the findings for social workers, educational staff and clinicians are discussed.

Social context and the real-world consequences of social anxiety

BACKGROUND

Social anxiety lies on a continuum, and young adults with elevated symptoms are at risk for developing a range of psychiatric disorders. Yet relatively little is known about the factors that govern the hour-by-hour experience and expression of social anxiety in the real world.

METHODS

Here we used smartphone-based ecological momentary assessment (EMA) to intensively sample emotional experience across different social contexts in the daily lives of 228 young adults selectively recruited to represent a broad spectrum of social anxiety symptoms.

RESULTS

Leveraging data from over 11 000 real-world assessments, our results highlight the central role of close friends, family members, and romantic partners. The presence of such close companions was associated with enhanced mood, yet socially anxious individuals had fewer confidants and spent less time with the close companions that they do have. Although higher levels of social anxiety were associated with a general worsening of mood, socially anxious individuals appear to derive larger benefits - lower levels of negative affect, anxiety, and depression - from their close companions. In contrast, variation in social anxiety was unrelated to the amount of time spent with strangers, co-workers, and acquaintances; and we uncovered no evidence of emotional hypersensitivity to these less-familiar individuals.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings provide a framework for understanding the deleterious consequences of social anxiety in emerging adulthood and set the stage for developing improved intervention strategies.

Interactions between anxiety subtypes, personality characteristics, and emotional regulation skills as predictors of future work outcomes

INTRODUCTION

This study examined long-term predictive links between different types of anxiety in late adolescence and work-related outcomes in young adulthood. The presence of adaptive personality traits and positive emotion regulation and coping skills were hypothesized to buffer these associations, reducing the negative effects of anxiety on future work outcomes.

METHODS

Hypotheses were tested using multi-reporter data from a community sample of 184 youth in the United States followed from ages 17-30. Trait anxiety, anxious arousal, rejection sensitivity, and implicit rejection were each examined in late adolescence as predictors of work-related ambition, work performance, job satisfaction, and career satisfaction in young adulthood. Conscientiousness, grit, emotion regulation (ER) and coping skills were examined as potential moderators.

RESULTS

Although trait anxiety was the only anxiety variable directly predictive of work outcomes in regression analyses, personality variables and ER skills interacted with multiple types of anxiety to predict work outcomes. Interestingly, findings reflected a pattern in which a combination of greater conscientiousness and greater anxiety, and greater ER skills and greater anxiety, predicted more positive work outcomes.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings not only suggest that the development of traits such as conscientiousness and ER skills may be helpful for youth with higher levels of anxiety, but also that higher levels of anxiety, when appropriately balanced by other qualities, may be adaptive for promoting positive career development for some youth.

Examining the Relation Between Adolescent Social Anxiety and Positive Affect Regulation: Self-Report vs. Observation

Social anxiety symptomatology is associated with disruptions in positive affect, though no study has examined deficits in responses to positive affect related to adolescent social anxiety symptoms. The present study tested whether adolescents' self-reported and observed social anxiety symptoms were uniquely associated with specific responses to positive affect. Moreover, we examined whether adolescent gender moderated these relations. Ninety adolescents (ages 11 to 18, M_age = 14.26, SD = 2.03; girls = 62%; white = 79%) completed self-report measures, participated in a social stressor task, and engaged in two positively-valenced interaction tasks with their female caregivers. Adolescent self-reported social anxiety symptoms were not uniquely associated with responses to positive affect. However, observed social anxiety symptoms were uniquely related to greater self-reported inhibiting positive affect responses and fewer observed positive affect maximizing behaviors. These findings highlight the need to examine self-reported and observed social anxiety symptoms in understanding associated disruptions in positive affect regulation.

Looks can be deceiving: body image dissatisfaction relates to social anxiety through fear of negative evaluation

Introduction Emerging adults are particularly vulnerable to body image dissatisfaction and social anxiety. These bring about a host of negative outcomes, including compromised social adjustment and well-being. Fear of negative evaluation has been shown to be a core element of social anxiety, but it is rarely considered in studies of body image and its effects on social anxiety. This study aimed to bridge this gap by examining the role of fear of negative evaluation in the association between body image dissatisfaction and social anxiety. Methods A cross-sectional study using 80 Thai undergraduates (mean age of 21 years) was conducted by self-reported (questionnaire) measures. Body image dissatisfaction was measured with the short version of the Body Shape Questionnaire (BSQ-8C), fear of negative evaluation with the Brief Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale, and social anxiety with the Interaction Anxiousness Scale (IAS). Correlation and mediation analyses were conducted to assess how these constructs were related to one another. Results The key hypothesis was supported: positive associations were found among body image dissatisfaction, fear of negative evaluation and social anxiety, and the association between body image dissatisfaction and social anxiety was mediated by fear of negative evaluation. Discussion Generalizing from the current findings, ideas for possible amelioration of social anxiety are discussed.

The Role of Environmental Factors in the Aetiology of Social Anxiety Disorder: A Review of the Theoretical and Empirical Literature

Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is characterised by a marked and persistent fear of social/performance situations, and a number of key environmental factors have been implicated in the aetiology of the disorder. Hence, the current article reviews theoretical and empirical evidence linking the development of SAD with parenting factors, traumatic life events, and aversive social experiences. Specifically, research suggests that the risk of developing SAD is increased by over-controlling, critical and cold parenting, an insecure attachment style, aversive social/peer experiences, emotional maltreatment, and to a lesser extent other forms of childhood maltreatment and adversity. Moreover, these factors may lead to posttraumatic reactions, distorted negative self-imagery, and internalised shame-based schemas that subsequently maintain SAD symptomatology. However, further research is necessary to clarify the nature, interactions, and relative contributions of these factors. It is likely that SAD develops via a complex interplay of biological and environmental factors, and that multiple aetiological pathways underlie the development of the disorder.

Age and Social Context Modulate the Effect of Anxiety on Risk-taking in Pediatric Samples

Although risk-taking has been studied from a developmental perspective, no study has examined how anxiety, age, risk-valence and social context interact to modulate decision-making in youths. This study probes this question using a risk-taking task, the Stunt Task, in clinically anxious children (n = 17, 10 F, age = 8.3-12.1 years), healthy children (n = 13, 4 F, age = 9.3-12.2 years), clinically anxious adolescents (n = 18, 6 F, age = 12.3-17.7 years), and healthy adolescents (n =14, 10 F, age = 12.5-17.3 years). Social context was manipulated: in one condition, participants were led to believe that a group of peers were observing and judging their performance (peer-judge), while, in the other condition, they were led to believe that peers were not observing them (control). Only anxious children showed an influence of social context on their risk-taking behavior. Specifically, anxious children bet significantly less and had slower reaction times (RT) during the peer-judge than control condition. However, across social conditions, risk-valence modulated RT differently in function of age and diagnosis. Anxious children were slower on the positive-valence risky trial, whereas anxious adolescents were slower on the negative-valence risky trials relative to their respective healthy peers. In conclusion, clinically anxious children were the only group that was sensitive (risk-averse) to the effect of a negative peer-judge context. The negative peer-judge context did not affect risky decision-making in adolescents, whether they were anxious or healthy. Future work using a stronger aversive social context might be more effective at influencing risky behavior in this age group.

Self-perceived competence and social acceptance of young children who stutter: Initial findings

PURPOSE

The goals of this study were to determine whether young children who stutter (CWS) perceive their own competence and social acceptance differently than young children who do not stutter (CWNS), and to identify the predictors of perceived competence and social acceptance in young speakers.

METHOD

We administered the Pictorial Scale of Perceived Competence and Social Acceptance for Young Children (PSPCSA; Harter & Pike, 1984) to 13 CWS and 14 CWNS and examined group differences. We also collected information on the children's genders, temperaments, stuttering frequencies, language abilities, and phonological skills to identify which of these factors predicted PSPCSA scores.

RESULTS

CWS, as a group, did not differ from CWNS in their perceived general competence or social acceptance. Gender predicted scores of perceived general competence, and stuttering frequency predicted perceived social acceptance. Temperament, language abilities, and phonological skills were not significant predictors of perceived competence or social acceptance in our sample.

CONCLUSIONS

While CWS did not significantly differ from CWNS in terms of perceived competence and social acceptance, when both talker groups were considered together, girls self-reported greater perceived competence than boys. Further, lower stuttering frequency was associated with greater perceived social acceptance. These preliminary findings provide motivation for further empirical study of the psychosocial components of childhood stuttering.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

Readers will be able to describe the constructs of perceived competence and social acceptance in young children, and whether early stuttering plays a role in the development of these constructs.

The Interactive Effects of Drinking Motives, Age, and Self-Criticism in Predicting Hazardous Drinking

BACKGROUND

Individuals who disclose hazardous drinking often report strong motives to drink, which may occur to modulate views of the self. Investigating self-criticism tendencies in models of drinking motives may help explain who is more susceptible to drinking for internal or external reasons. As much of the research on drinking motives and alcohol use is conducted in young adult or college student samples, studying these relations in a wider age range is clearly needed.

OBJECTIVES

The current study examined the interactive relationship between drinking motives (internal: coping, enhancement; external: social, conformity), levels of self-criticism (internalized, comparative), and age to predict hazardous drinking.

METHODS

Participants (N = 427, Mage = 34.16, 54.8% female) who endorsed drinking within the last year completed an online study assessing these constructs.

RESULTS

Results indicated internalized self-criticism and drinking to cope interacted to predict hazardous drinking for middle-aged adults. However, comparative self-criticism and conformity motives interacted to predict greater hazardous drinking for younger-aged adults. In addition, both social and conformity motives predicted less hazardous drinking for middle-aged adults high in comparative self-criticism.

CONCLUSIONS/IMPORTANCE

Interventions that target alcohol use could minimize coping motivations to drink while targeting comparative self-criticism in the context of social, and conformity motives.

Social Anxiety, Stress Type, and Conformity among Adolescents

Social anxiety and stress type can influence strong conformity among adolescents; however, the interaction between them is not clear. In this study, 152 adolescents were recruited and assigned one of two conditions: an interaction and a judgment condition. In the interaction condition, adolescents with high social anxiety (HSA) were less likely to conform when completing a modified Asch task, compared to adolescents who had low social anxiety. In the judgment condition, adolescents with HSA were more likely to conform to the opinions from the unanimous majority. The results suggest that adolescents with HSA may show different styles of strong conformity with the change of stress type. We believe that socially anxious adolescents avoid potential social situations with weaker conformity, while avoiding negative evaluations from others with stronger conformity. These findings contribute to a better understanding of the social dysfunctions among adolescents with HSA and provide a new direction for clinical interventions.

Changes of Explicit and Implicit Stigma in Medical Students during Psychiatric Clerkship

OBJECTIVE

This study examines the differences in explicit and implicit stigma between medical and non-medical undergraduate students at baseline; the changes of explicit and implicit stigma in medical undergraduate and non-medical undergraduate students after a 1-month psychiatric clerkship and 1-month follow-up period; and the differences in the changes of explicit and implicit stigma between medical and non-medical undergraduate students.

METHODS

Seventy-two medical undergraduate students and 64 non-medical undergraduate students were enrolled. All participants were interviewed at intake and after 1 month. The Taiwanese version of the Stigma Assessment Scale and the Implicit Association Test were used to measure the participants' explicit and implicit stigma.

RESULTS

Neither explicit nor implicit stigma differed between two groups at baseline. The medical, but not the non-medical, undergraduate students had a significant decrease in explicit stigma during the 1-month period of follow-up. Neither the medical nor the non-medical undergraduate students exhibited a significant change in implicit stigma during the one-month of follow-up, however. There was an interactive effect between group and time on explicit stigma but not on implicit stigma.

CONCLUSION

Explicit but not implicit stigma toward mental illness decreased in the medical undergraduate students after a psychiatric clerkship. Further study is needed to examine how to improve implicit stigma toward mental illness.

Early Adolescent Peer Foundations of Late Adolescent and Young Adult Psychological Adjustment

The long-term impacts of failing to establish autonomy and relatedness within close friendships are poorly understood. Adolescent behaviors undermining autonomy and relatedness in friendships at 13 were examined as predictors of friendship competence at 18 and depressive symptoms and social withdrawal at 21. A diverse community sample of 184 adolescents participated in self, peer, and observational assessments. Teens' inability to establish autonomy and connection with friends at 13 predicted decreases in friendship competence at 18 (ß=-.20, p=.02). Direct links to increases in depressive symptoms (ß=.34, p<.001) and social withdrawal (ß=.18, p=.03) were observed, with friendship competence partially mediating these relations. Results highlight the importance of problematic adolescent peer relationships as risk factors for the development of young adult internalizing symptoms.

Implicit versus Explicit Rejection Self-Perceptions and Adolescents' Interpersonal Functioning

We investigated associations between implicit and explicit self-perceptions of rejection with interpersonal functioning in close relationships. Adolescents (N=124) reported their explicit rejection self-perceptions on a questionnaire and completed the Implicit Association Test to assess their implicit rejection self-perceptions. After controlling for implicit self-perceptions, adolescents' explicit rejection self-perceptions were associated with the adolescents self-reporting more negative relationship quality with close friends and self-reporting more negative behaviors with romantic partners. After controlling for explicit self-perceptions, adolescents' implicit rejection self-perceptions were associated with their romantic partners reporting more negative relationship quality with them, and observations of adolescents displaying more negative behaviors with romantic partners. Implicit and explicit rejection self-perceptions uniquely explain individual differences in interpersonal behaviors.

Mother-Reported and Children's Perceived Social and Academic Competence in Clinic-Referred Youth: Unique Relations to Depression and/or Social Anxiety and the Role of Self-perceptions

Depression and social anxiety symptoms and disorders are highly comorbid, and are associated with low social acceptance and academic competence. Theoretical models of both depression and social anxiety highlight the saliency of negative self-perceptions. We examined whether children's self-perceptions of social acceptance and mother-reported youth social acceptance are independently and uniquely related to children's depression and social anxiety, both before and after controlling for comorbid symptoms. Similar questions were examined regarding academic competence. The sample was 110 clinic-referred youth aged 8-16 years (65 boys, 45 girls; M age = 11.15, SD = 2.57). In the social acceptance area, both youth self-perceptions and mother-perceptions had independent and unique relations to depression and social anxiety, before and after controlling for comorbid symptoms. In the academic domain, both youth self-perceptions and mother-perceptions had independent and unique relations to depression, before and after controlling for social anxiety; yet only youth self-perceptions were related to social anxiety, before, but not after controlling for depression. For depression, larger effect sizes were observed for children's perceived, versus mother-reported, social acceptance and academic competence. Bootstrapping and Sobel tests found youth self-perceptions of social acceptance mediated the relation between mothers' perceptions and each of youth depression and social anxiety; and perceived academic competence mediated the relation between mothers' perceptions and youth depression, both before and after controlling for social anxiety. We found similarities and differences in findings for depression and social anxiety. Theoretical and treatment implications are highlighted, and future research directions are discussed.

Social surrogacy and adjustment: exploring the correlates of having a "social helper" for shy and non-shy young adolescents

A social surrogate is an individual who offers help and comfort in social situations or makes social events more exciting. In this study of 157 young adolescents (55% female; Mage = 13.84 years, SD = 0.75 years), the authors examined whether the linear and curvilinear associations between self-reported social surrogate use and adjustment outcomes (social problems, loneliness, anxiety symptoms, depressive symptoms) varied as a function of shyness and gender, after accounting for the effects of positive friendship quality. Regression analyses revealed that low and high levels of social surrogate use were related to greater social problems for all adolescents. In addition, shyness emerged as a moderator for several curvilinear effects. Specifically, results indicated that (a) high levels of social surrogate use were associated with greater anxiety for adolescents high in shyness; and (b) low levels of social surrogate use were associated with greater depressive symptoms for adolescents low in shyness. Findings highlight the developmental importance of specific types of relationship experiences during early adolescence and point to different implications of social surrogate use for shy and non-shy young adolescents.

Implicit associations in social anxiety disorder: the effects of comorbid depression

Implicit associations of the self to concepts like "calm" have been shown to be weaker in persons with social anxiety than in non-anxious healthy controls. However, other implicit self associations, such as those to acceptance or rejection, have been less studied in social anxiety, and none of this work has been conducted with clinical samples. Furthermore, the importance of depression in these relationships has not been well investigated. We addressed these issues by administering two Implicit Association Tests (IATs; Greenwald, McGhee, & Schwartz, 1998), one examining the implicit association of self/other to anxiety/calmness and the other examining the association of self/other to rejection/acceptance, to individuals with generalized social anxiety disorder (SAD, n=85), individuals with generalized SAD and a current or past diagnosis of major depressive disorder or current dysthymic disorder (n=47), and non-anxious, non-depressed healthy controls (n=44). The SAD and SAD-depression groups showed weaker implicit self-calmness associations than healthy controls, with the comorbid group showing the weakest self-calmness associations. The SAD-depression group showed the weakest implicit self-acceptance associations; no difference was found between non-depressed individuals with SAD and healthy controls. Post hoc analyses revealed that differences appeared to be driven by those with current depression. The SAD-only and SAD-depression groups did not differ in self-reported (explicit) social anxiety. The implications of these findings for the understanding of SAD-depression comorbidity and for the treatment of SAD are considered.

Implicit measure for yoga research: Yoga implicit association test

CONTEXT

The implicit association test (IAT), a new tool for yoga research is presented. Implicit measures could be used in those situations where (1) The construct is difficult to self-report, (2) there is a threat of social desirability. Clinically, we can assess cognitive dissonance by evaluating incongruence between implicit and explicit measures. Explicit preferences are self-reported. Implicit preferences are what we inherently believe, often without our conscious awareness.

AIMS

The primary objective of this study is to provide a bird's eye view of the field, implicit cognition, with emphasis on the IAT and the secondary objective is to illustrate through an example of our study to develop an implicit tool to assess implicit preference toward yoga.

SETTINGS AND DESIGN

A total of 5 independent samples of total 69 students undergoing short and long-term yoga courses in a Yoga University were assessed for their implicit and explicit preferences towards yoga.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The yoga-IAT (Y-IAT), explicit self-rating scale was administered through computers using the Inquisit program by Millisecond Software. Experimental and scoring materials are provided.

RESULTS

A moderate preference toward yoga was detected, with a lower implicit-explicit congruence, reflecting possible confound of social desirability in the self-report of preference toward yoga.

CONCLUSIONS

Implicit measures may be used in the yoga field to assess constructs, which are difficult to self-report or may have social desirability threat. Y-IAT may be used to evaluate implicit preference toward yoga.

Individual differences in emotion lateralisation and the processing of emotional information arising from social interactions

Previous research examining the possible association between emotion lateralisation and social anxiety has found conflicting results. In this paper two studies are presented to assess two aspects related to different features of social anxiety: fear of negative evaluation (FNE) and emotion regulation. Lateralisation for the processing of facial emotion was measured using the chimeric faces test. Individuals with greater FNE were more strongly lateralised to the right hemisphere for the processing of anger, happiness and sadness; and, for the processing of fearful faces the relationship was found for females only. Emotion regulation strategies were reduced to two factors: positive strategies and negative strategies. For males, but not females, greater reported use of negative emotion strategies is associated with stronger right hemisphere lateralisation for processing negative emotions. The implications for further understanding the neuropsychological processing of emotion in individuals with social anxiety are discussed.

Maternal overcontrol and child anxiety: the mediating role of perceived competence

Previous research has shown that maternal overcontrol is related to higher levels of child anxiety. It has been theorized, though not empirically tested, that maternal overcontrol decreases child perceived competence and mastery, which increases child anxiety. The present study investigated this theory using a sample of 89 mother-child dyads (children aged 6-13, 84.3% Caucasian, 6.7% African American, and 51.7% male). After statistically controlling for maternal anxiety level, child perceived competence was shown to partially mediate the relationship between maternal overcontrol and child anxiety. Though current findings are based on cross sectional data, they suggest multiple pathways through which maternal overcontrol impacts child anxiety. One pathway, described in theoretical models, posits that greater levels of parental control reduce children's opportunities to acquire appropriate developmental skills, lowering their perceived competence, and thus increasing their anxiety. Implications of these findings and directions for future research are discussed.

Speech presentation cues moderate frontal EEG asymmetry in socially withdrawn young adults

Socially withdrawn individuals display solitary behavior across wide contexts with both unfamiliar and familiar peers. This tendency to withdraw may be driven by either past or anticipated negative social encounters. In addition, socially withdrawn individuals often exhibit right frontal electroencephalogram (EEG) asymmetry at baseline and when under stress. In the current study we examined shifts in frontal EEG activity in young adults (N=41) at baseline, as they viewed either an anxiety-provoking or a benign speech video, and as they subsequently prepared for their own speech. Results indicated that right frontal EEG activity increased, relative to the left, only for socially withdrawn participants exposed to the anxious video. These results suggest that contextual affective cues may prime an individual's response to stress, particularly if they illustrate or substantiate an anticipated negative event.

Training implicit social anxiety associations: an experimental intervention

The current study investigates an experimental anxiety reduction intervention among a highly socially anxious sample (N=108; n=36 per Condition; 80 women). Using a conditioning paradigm, our goal was to modify implicit social anxiety associations to directly test the premise from cognitive models that biased cognitive processing may be causally related to anxious responding. Participants were trained to preferentially process non-threatening information through repeated pairings of self-relevant stimuli and faces indicating positive social feedback. As expected, participants in this positive training condition (relative to our two control conditions) displayed less negative implicit associations following training, and were more likely to complete an impromptu speech (though they did not report less anxiety during the speech). These findings offer partial support for cognitive models and indicate that implicit associations are not only correlated with social anxiety, they may be causally related to anxiety reduction as well.

Intolerance of uncertainty in adolescents: correlations with worry, social anxiety, and depression

The current study examined Intolerance of Uncertainty (IU)-the tendency to react negatively to situations that are uncertain-in psychological problems among adolescents. Using data from 191 adolescents, aged 14 to 18, we examined (a) the dimensionality of IU as tapped by the Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale short-form (IUS-12), (b) the relationship of IU with worry, social anxiety, and depression, (c) the specificity of IU to these variables, and (d) the role of IU as a mediator of the linkages between negative affectivity (NA) and worry, social anxiety, and depression. Results showed that the IUS-12 encompassed 2 components of IU, named Prospective Anxiety and Inhibitory Anxiety. Furthermore, IU was specifically related with worry and social anxiety, but not depression, when controlling the shared variance between these variables and NA, age, and gender. Finally, IU and its 2 components were found to mediate the linkages of NA with worry and social anxiety.

Implicit and Explicit Associations in the Fear Structure of Social Anxiety

Implicit associations in the fear structure of social anxiety were investigated and their relations with explicit associations were examined in the present study. The Implicit Association Test was used to assess implicit associations. Individuals scoring High ( n = 26) and Low ( n = 18) on Social Anxiety completed two forms of the Implicit Association Test and rated the probability and cost of negative social outcomes. Analyses showed an implicit association between anxiety responses and negative evaluations was more strongly formed in the High Social Anxiety group than in the Low Social Anxiety group. Furthermore, relations between implicit associations and explicit measures were minimal. These findings suggested that the Implicit Association Test is suitable for the assessment of implicit associations in the fear structure of social anxiety, and that implicit associations of social anxiety are relatively independent of explicit associations.

Automatic and strategic measures as predictors of mirror gazing among individuals with body dysmorphic disorder symptoms

The current study tests cognitive-behavioral models of body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) by examining the relationship between cognitive biases and correlates of mirror gazing. To provide a more comprehensive picture, we investigated both relatively strategic (i.e., available for conscious introspection) and automatic (i.e., outside conscious control) measures of cognitive biases in a sample with either high (n = 32) or low (n = 31) BDD symptoms. Specifically, we examined the extent that (1) explicit interpretations tied to appearance, as well as (2) automatic associations and (3) strategic evaluations of the importance of attractiveness predict anxiety and avoidance associated with mirror gazing. Results indicated that interpretations tied to appearance uniquely predicted self-reported desire to avoid, whereas strategic evaluations of appearance uniquely predicted peak anxiety associated with mirror gazing, and automatic appearance associations uniquely predicted behavioral avoidance. These results offer considerable support for cognitive models of BDD, and suggest a dissociation between automatic and strategic measures.

Association between the catechol-O-methyltransferase Val158Met polymorphism and self-perceived social acceptance in adolescent girls

Low perceived social acceptance is a significant risk factor for emotional difficulties in children. No studies, however, have examined genetic factors that may underlie individual differences in perceived social acceptance. In the present study we examined the relation between polymorphisms on the catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) Val158Met and serotonin transporter promoter (5-HTTLPR) genes and perceived social acceptance in 103 adolescent girls. Only the COMT polymorphism was related to perceived social acceptance: Val-allele carriers reported greater perceived social acceptance than did homozygous Met-allele carriers. In a subsample of these participants, homozygous Val-allele carriers reported greater maintenance of positive emotions during stress. This, in turn, predicted social acceptance, suggesting that COMT exerts its effects on social functioning through emotion regulation. These data are the first to show an association between COMT and social functioning in children. Future research might profitably examine emotion regulation as a mediator between COMT and social acceptance.