Attention Control Under Distress: Psychometric Properties of the Emotional Attentional Control Scale in Anxious Youth

Attention control (AC)—the ability to focus, sustain, and shift attention—is theorized to play a key role in the development and maintenance of anxiety and depression, including in youth. Prior studies have assessed AC in emotionally neutral ("cold") contexts, potentially limiting understanding of its relevance in emotionally salient ("hot") contexts. The Emotional Attentional Control Scale (eACS) was developed to measure AC in emotional contexts but has not been studied in youth. This study evaluated the factor structure, internal consistency, and validity of the eACS in a clinically referred sample of 241 anxious youth aged 6 to 17 years. Exploratory factor analysis indicated a two-factor structure—Emotional Attentional Focusing and Emotional Attentional Shifting—with adequate internal consistency. eACS scores demonstrated convergent validity through correlations with scores on a cold AC measure and concurrent validity through correlations with anxiety and depression severity. eACS scores also showed incremental validity, explaining unique variance in anxiety and depression severity beyond cold AC. These findings provide the first evidence supporting the eACS as a valid measure of emotional AC in youth, with implications for improving assessment and targeting of attention processes in youth.