Attention Focusing Moderates the Association Between Parent Anxiety and Attention Bias to Threat in Youth with Social Anxiety Disorder

Despite theory and research linking parent anxiety to youth attention bias to threat, knowledge gaps remain regarding potential moderators. We examined youth attention focusing (i.e., ability to inhibit distractors and sustain attention) and attention shifting (i.e., ability to flexibility shift attention) as moderators of the association between parent anxiety and youth attention bias to threat among peripubertal youth with social anxiety disorder. We expected that parent anxiety would be associated with youth attention bias to threat at low levels of attention focusing and shifting. Participants were 165 clinically referred peripubertal youth (ages 9–14 years, M = 12.21 years; SD = 1.55; 73.9% White, 57.0% Hispanic or Latino; 63.0% females) with social anxiety disorder. We used a free-viewing task with eye tracking to measure youth attention bias to threat, self-ratings to measure youth attention focusing and shifting, and self-ratings to measure parent anxiety. Attention focusing, but not shifting, moderated the association between parent anxiety and youth attention bias to threat. At low levels of attention focusing, high parent anxiety was associated with high youth attention bias to threat. Findings suggest that parent anxiety serves as a signal that enhances socially anxious youths’ attention to threat, particularly among those who struggle to sustain focused attention. We extend our findings to implications for theory and treatment of social anxiety in youth.