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Processing Bias in Children with Separation Anxiety Disorder, Social Phobia and Generalised Anxiety Disorder

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 February 2012

Merel Kindt*
Affiliation:
Maastricht University, the Netherlands
Susan Bögels
Affiliation:
Maastricht University, the Netherlands
Mattijn Morren
Affiliation:
Maastricht University, the Netherlands
*
Address for correspondence: Merel Kindt, Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Roetersstraat 15, 10101 WB Amsterdam. Email: m.kindt@uva.nl
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Abstract

The present study examined processing bias in children suffering from anxiety disorders. Processing bias was assessed using of the emotional Stroop task in clinically referred children with separation anxiety disorder (SAD), social phobia (SP), and/or generalised anxiety disorder (GAD) and normal controls. The aims of the present study were twofold: (a) to test whether clinically anxious children show a bias towards threat stimuli, and (b) to examine whether this bias is domain-specific. No evidence was obtained for either an anxiety-related bias towards threat, or a domain-specificity effect. Clearly, these findings diverge markedly from adult studies and stress the importance of further research on anxiety-related information processing in children.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2003

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