An investigation into the influence of positive peer feedback on self-relevant cognitions in social anxiety

Pathways through Adolescenc

Bias or reality? : negative perceptions of ambiguous social cues, social performance and physical arousal in socially anxious youth

This thesis deals with the negative perceptions of socially anxious youth in three different cognitive domains: (a) interpretation of ambiguous social situations, (b) self-evaluation of social skills and nervous behaviors, and (c) perception of physical arousal during social situations. It also addresses the issue of whether socially anxious youth's negative cognitions are justified as based on objective sources of information, such as independent observers, same age peers and actual physical responding.LEI Universiteit LeidenDevelopmental pathways of social-emotional and cognitive functioning - ou

Concurrent and prospective associations between social anxiety and responses to stress in adolescence

Several studies have investigated the relationship between adolescents' responses to stress and general anxiety and depression, but only few studies addressed the relationship between responses to stress and social anxiety. The current three-wave longitudinal study, that covered a period of 5 years with a time interval of on average two years between waves, examined concurrent as well as prospective relations between adolescents' self-reported stress responses, including coping responses, and self-perceived social anxiety. Both the predictive power of social anxiety for different stress responses and, reversely, of stress responses for social anxiety were evaluated. Participants were 331 youth (170 boys) aged 9 to 17 years old at Wave 1. Self-report questionnaires were used to measure social anxiety, responses to social stress, and depressive symptoms. Results showed significant concurrent relations between social anxiety and maladaptive stress responses. Moreover, the study yielded evidence for social anxiety predicting stress responses across time as well as stress responses predicting social anxiety, although evidence for the former link is stronger. The findings suggest that a relative lack of adaptive stress responses may heighten social anxiety and social anxiety in turn may trigger maladaptive as well as adaptive responses to social problems. The relevance of these findings for social anxiety prevention and intervention purposes are discussed.Pathways through Adolescenc

Social anxiety and interpretation bias: Examining clinical and subclinical components in adolescents

Pathways through Adolescenc

Adolescent social anxiety and substance use: The role of susceptibility to peer pressure

Pathways through Adolescenc

The role of performance quality in adolescents' self-evaluation and rumination after a speech: Is it contingent on social anxiety level?

Background: Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) has relatively poor outcomes for youth with social anxiety, possibly because broad-based CBT is not tailored to their specific needs. Treatment of social anxiety in youth may need to pay more attention to negative social cognitions that are considered a key factor in social anxiety development and maintenance. Aims: The aim of the present study was to learn more about the role of performance quality in adolescents’ cognitions about their social performance and, in particular, the moderating role social anxiety plays in the relationship between performance quality and self-cognitions. Method: A community sample of 229 participants, aged 11 to 18 years, gave a speech and filled in questionnaires addressing social anxiety, depression, expected and self-evaluated performance, and post-event rumination. Independent observers rated the quality of the speech. The data were analysed using moderated mediation analysis. Results: Performance quality mediated the link between expected and self-evaluated performance in adolescents with low and medium levels of social anxiety. For adolescents with high levels of social anxiety, only a direct link between expected and self-evaluated performance was found. Their self-evaluation was not related to the quality of their performance. Performance quality also mediated the link between expected performance and rumination, but social anxiety did not moderate this mediation effect. Conclusions: Results suggest that a good performance does not help socially anxious adolescents to replace their negative self-evaluations with more realistic ones. Specific cognitive intervention strategies should be tailored to the needs of socially anxious adolescents who perform well.Pathways through Adolescenc

Psychometric properties of the adolescents' interpretation and belief questionnaire (AIBQ) for measuring interpretation bias in Chinese adolescents

The cognitive model of social anxiety disorder hypothesized that socially anxious individuals tend to negatively interpret ambiguous scenarios, which was termed an Interpretation bias (IB). The Adolescents' Interpretation Bias Questionnaire (AIBQ) is a widely used self-report instrument to measure IB towards social situations for adolescents. The main objective of the current study was to culturally revise AIBQ in Chinese adolescents. In total, 960 adolescents participated, and four weeks later, 185 of them were re-measured with Chinese version of AIBQ (C-AIBQ). We tested construct validity, examined internal consistency and test-retest reliability, and assessed convergent and divergent validity of the C-AIBQ subscales. Overall, C-AIBQ variables showed satisfactory construct validity, internal consistency, test-retest reliability and convergent and discriminant validity, in particular the social negative interpretation subscale. Our results indicate that this instrument is adequate to measure interpretation bias in Chinese adolescents.Pathways through Adolescenc

Prepandemic risk factors of COVID-19-related concerns in adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic

To identify adolescents who may be at risk for adverse outcomes, we examined the extent of COVID-19-related concerns reported by adolescents and investigated which prepandemic risk and protective factors predicted these concerns during the COVID-19 pandemic. Dutch adolescents (N = 188; M-age = 13.49, SD = .81) were assessed before the pandemic and at eight and ten months into the pandemic. Results demonstrated that adolescents' most frequently reported COVID-19-related concerns were about social activities and getting delayed in school. Adolescents that have specific vulnerabilities before the pandemic (i.e., higher stress, maladaptive coping, or internalizing problems) experience more concerns during the pandemic, stressing the importance of guiding and supporting these adolescents in order to prevent adverse developmental outcomes.Pathways through Adolescenc