Inhibited and impulsive subgroups of socially anxious young adults: Their depressive symptoms and life satisfaction

Socially anxious people are typically thought of as being behaviorally inhibited; however, an atypical subgroup, which is impulsive rather than inhibited, has recently been identified [1]. Theoretically, inhibition and impulsivity could be viewed as different strategies for coping with anxiety that have the same goal—escape from negative emotions—but they seem to have different implications. Previous studies have found that the socially anxious-impulsive subgroup was higher on risk-prone behavior, as for example drug use, compared with a socially anxious inhibited subgroup. In this study, we aimed to identify these subgroups in a general population, and asked whether they also experience various levels of depressive symptoms and life satisfaction, as well as moderating effects of gender. Methods: Cluster analysis was used to identify subgroups of young adults (20 - 24 years old; N = 772) characterized by different profiles of social anxiety and impulsivity. These subgroups were compared on levels of internal adjustment, and the moderating effects of gender were also tested. Results: We identified five clusters, including an Anxious-Inhibited and an Anxious-Impulsive cluster. In the interaction between gender and cluster membership, gender showed evidence of moderation regarding both depressive symptoms and life satisfaction, with the young women in the Anxious-Inhibited and the Anxious-Impulsive clusters faring worst. Conclusions: We replicated previous findings demonstrating the existence of a socially anxious-impulsive subgroup, thus solidifying current knowledge that may be important when it comes to diagnostics and treatment. This may prove particularly important for young women regarding internalizing symptoms

Longitudinal links between adolescent social anxiety and depressive symptoms: stressful experiences at home, in school and with peers

Social anxiety and depressive symptoms often co-occur during early adolescence but contributing factors to this development are still a matter of debate. This study examined the role of daily stressors (peers, school and homelife) in the links between adolescent social anxiety and depressive symptoms. 7-8th graders at Time 1 (N = 2,752, Mage = 13.65; 47.5% girls) were followed across three time-points. Cross-lagged path models showed that depressive symptoms predicted later social anxiety, but not vice versa. Bidirectional links were identified between peer stress and social anxiety, and between school/homelife stress and depressive symptoms, respectively. Indirect effects of social anxiety, depressive symptoms, and daily stressors were found, though stressors did not mediate the links between social anxiety and depressive symptoms (or vice versa). Our findings indicate an intricate role of daily stressors in different domains on the links between social anxiety and depressive symptoms

What if you could see yourself with my eyes? – A pilot study of the impact of a Virtual Reality-environment on relational responding to self

People's sense of self plays an important role in psychological wellbeing and it is often targeted by perspective taking interventions in psychological treatments. The present study investigated if seeing oneself from the outside perspective in a virtual reality (VR) environment could be used to influence the patterns of relational responding that constitutes the sense of self. Changes in participants' (N= 9) patterns of relating themselves vs. others with positive attributes and negative attributes were investigated using an Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP) that was delivered before and after the one session perspective-taking intervention in VR. In addition, participants' self-ratings about their experience of the VR intervention were investigated immediately after and one month after the VR-intervention. The results showed changes specifically in seeing oneself more positively, reflected by the increase in the Me - positive trial type in the IRAP. No systematic changes were seen in participants' relational responding to themselves as being "negative " (i.e. bad, unloved, incompetent) or in patterns of relational responding considering others. In addition, participants experienced moderate positive emotions during the VR-intervention and evaluated the experience as meaningful based on their self-ratings. Together these results suggest that seeing oneself in the VR promoted positive experiences relating to oneself

Evaluation of the psychometric properties of a modified version of the Social Phobia Screening Questionnaire for use in adolescents

© 2009 Gren-Landell et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licens

Development of a Shortened Version of the Adolescent Stress Questionnaire (ASQ-S): construct validity and sex invariance in a large sample of Swedish adolescents

Background: Stressor experience is an important topic of research concerning adolescent health and ill-health. For this, valid and reliable measures of adolescent stress are needed. The Adolescent Stress Questionnaire 2 was developed to tap into stressor domains specific for adolescence. Psychometric evaluations in Australian and European samples have indicated adequate psychometric properties. However, the ASQ-2 is quite extensive, which may render its use in large cohort studies, where several aspects of adolescent health are investigated, inconvenient and problematic. Objective: To evaluate the psychometric properties of a short version of the ASQ-2 (ASQ-S) in terms of construct validity and factorial invariance across gender. Method: The ASQ-2 was translated into Swedish and items were retained from nine of the ten scales based on factor loadings. One scale (stress of emerging adult responsibilities) was removed entirely due to low internal consistency and variance explained. The remaining 27 items were piloted and then included in an ongoing 5-year longitudinal study involving the participation of all students in the 7th and 8th grade in public schools from three Swedish municipalities (N = 2768, 47.5 % girls, mean age 13.64 years). For this study data from the first and second wave was used. Results: A nine factor Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) showed a good fit to the data and invariance across sexes was supported. The nine scales correlated positively with depressive symptoms, anxiety and worry and negatively with self-esteem. Girls reported higher stress levels than boys in eight of the nine scales. Stressors related to peer pressure predicted reported levels of anxiety and worry one year later, whereas stressors related to romantic relationships predicted depressive symptoms. Conclusions: Overall this study suggests that the ASQ-S could be a valid measure of adolescent stressor experience and psychometrically equivalent to the full ASQ-2.This research was supported by Forskningsrådet Formas, Forskningsrådet för Arbetsliv och Socialvetenskap (FAS), Vetenskapsrådet, and Vinnova

The Human Parahippocampal Region: I. Temporal Pole Cytoarchitectonic and MRI Correlation

The temporal pole (TP) is the rostralmost portion of the human temporal lobe. Characteristically, it is only present in human and nonhuman primates. TP has been implicated in different cognitive functions such as emotion, attention, behavior, and memory, based on functional studies performed in healthy controls and patients with neurodegenerative diseases through its anatomical connections (amygdala, pulvinar, orbitofrontal cortex). TP was originally described as a single uniform area by Brodmann area 38, and von Economo (area TG of von Economo and Koskinas), and little information on its cytoarchitectonics is known in humans. We hypothesize that 1) TP is not a homogenous area and we aim first at fixating the precise extent and limits of temporopolar cortex (TPC) with adjacent fields and 2) its structure can be correlated with structural magnetic resonance images. We describe here the macroscopic characteristics and cytoarchitecture as two subfields, a medial and a lateral area, that constitute TPC also noticeable in 2D and 3D reconstructions. Our findings suggest that the human TP is a heterogeneous region formed exclusively by TPC for about 7 mm of the temporal tip, and that becomes progressively restricted to the medial and ventral sides of the TP. This cortical area presents topographical and structural features in common with nonhuman primates, which suggests an evolutionary development in human species

Altered Effective Connectivity Network of the Amygdala in Social Anxiety Disorder: A Resting-State fMRI Study

The amygdala is often found to be abnormally recruited in social anxiety disorder (SAD) patients. The question whether amygdala activation is primarily abnormal and affects other brain systems or whether it responds “normally” to an abnormal pattern of information conveyed by other brain structures remained unanswered. To address this question, we investigated a network of effective connectivity associated with the amygdala using Granger causality analysis on resting-state functional MRI data of 22 SAD patients and 21 healthy controls (HC). Implications of abnormal effective connectivity and clinical severity were investigated using the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (LSAS). Decreased influence from inferior temporal gyrus (ITG) to amygdala was found in SAD, while bidirectional influences between amygdala and visual cortices were increased compared to HCs. Clinical relevance of decreased effective connectivity from ITG to amygdala was suggested by a negative correlation of LSAS avoidance scores and the value of Granger causality. Our study is the first to reveal a network of abnormal effective connectivity of core structures in SAD. This is in support of a disregulation in predescribed modules involved in affect control. The amygdala is placed in a central position of dysfunction characterized both by decreased regulatory influence of orbitofrontal cortex and increased crosstalk with visual cortex. The model which is proposed based on our results lends neurobiological support towards cognitive models considering disinhibition and an attentional bias towards negative stimuli as a core feature of the disorder

Internet Pathways in Suicidality: A Review of the Evidence

The general aim of this study was to review the scientific literature concerning the Internet and suicidality and to examine the different pathways by which suicidal risks and prevention efforts are facilitated through the Internet. An online literature search was conducted using the MEDLINE and Google Scholar databases. The main themes that were investigated included pathological Internet use and suicidality, pro-suicide websites, suicide pacts on the Internet, and suicide prevention via the Internet. Articles were screened based on the titles and abstracts reporting on the themes of interest. Thereafter, articles were selected based on scientific relevance of the study, and included for full text assessment. The results illustrated that specific Internet pathways increased the risk for suicidal behaviours, particularly in adolescents and young people. Several studies found significant correlations between pathological Internet use and suicidal ideation and non-suicidal self-injury. Pro-suicide websites and online suicide pacts were observed as high-risk factors for facilitating suicidal behaviours, particularly among isolated and susceptible individuals. Conversely, the evidence also showed that the Internet could be an effective tool for suicide prevention, especially for socially-isolated and vulnerable individuals, who might otherwise be unreachable. It is this paradox that accentuates the need for further research in this field