Search

Anxiety disorders, characterized by excessive and persistent worry pertaining to a number of events or activities, are common in children and have a median age of onset of 11 years (APA, 2013; Kessler et al., 2005). The symptoms associated with these disorders are moderately stable and, for many, persist into adulthood (Bittner et al., 2007; Bosquet & Egeland, 2006). Indeed, longitudinal studies show that anxiety symptoms at one time point are correlated with anxiety symptoms at subsequent time points across childhood (Keenan, Feng, Hipwell, & Klostermann, 2009) and adolescence (Narmandakh, Roest, de Jonge, & Oldehinkel, 2020; Nelemans et al., 2017; Nelemans et al., 2020; Schleider et al., 2019). Persistent anxiety can lead to lifelong impairment, as the negative consequences associated with anxiety symptoms are wide ranging (Rapee, Schniering, & Hudson, 2009). It is therefore crucial to understand the longitudinal associations between anxiety symptoms and correlates of anxiety to identify factors related to symptom onset and informing early interventions. Stress reactivity, defined broadly as individual differences in response to stressors, is often studied in relation to anxiety (Cohen et al., 2000). However, it is unclear if stress reactivity may serve as a risk factor for anxiety, or if it could be seen as a symptom of anxiety (Nelemans et al., 2017; Zorn et al., 2017). To date, there is limited longitudinal research on stress reactivity in children, although it is thought to be relatively stable in adult populations (Cohen et al., 2000). A common method of studying stress reactivity is the use of public speaking tasks in which participants are asked to perform an impromptu speech. Studies using this design have shown an increase in self-reported anxiety in anticipation of giving a speech in children with social anxiety disorder compared to healthy comparisons (Morrison et al., 2016). However, the reliability of children’s self-reported symptoms differs by age. One study found that while the reliability of children’s self-report of anxiety symptoms increases with age, the reliability of parent-report of anxiety symptoms actually decreases with age (Edelbrock, Costello, Dulcan, Kalas, & Conover, 1985). It is therefore critical to collect multiple measures of pediatric anxiety. Here, we will focus on observed anxiety during a speech task as a measure of stress reactivity. Observed behavior during a speech task has been found to be more strongly related to parent-reported social anxiety, whereas observed behavior during an unstructured conversation with unfamiliar peers was more related to self-reported social anxiety (Bowers et al., 2020). However, little is known about how observed anxiety during a speech develops over time. This novel approach will not only provide developmental insights; it may also have clinical implications. If observed anxiety predicts later anxiety symptoms, measurements of observed anxiety may serve as a non-invasive, relatively low-cost method of early detection for anxiety disorders and their treatment. Our longitudinal approach affords a unique opportunity to assess whether anxiety symptoms predict observed anxiety in children, or vice versa. The present study will utilize a cross-lagged structural equation model to explore the relations between parent-reported anxiety symptoms and observed anxiety during a speech task at four time points: ages 5, 7, 9, and 13 years. Observed anxiety was rated by independent coders and defined as a composite score of verbal anxiety, physical anxiety, quality of the speech, total talking time, and speech length.

Background Children with the temperament of behavioral inhibition (BI) face increased risk for social anxiety. However, not all children with BI develop anxiety symptoms. Inhibitory control (IC) has been suggested as a moderator of the pathway between BI and social anxiety. This study uses longitudinal data to characterize development of IC and tests the hypothesis that IC moderates associations between early BI and later social anxiety symptoms. Methods Children completed a Go/Nogo task at ages 5, 7, and 10 years as part of a longitudinal study of BI (measured at 2-3 years) and social anxiety symptoms (measured at 12 years). To assess IC development, response strategy (criterion) and inhibitory performance (d') were characterized using signal detection theory. Latent growth models were used to characterize the development of IC and examine relations among BI, IC parameters, and social anxiety symptoms. Results IC response strategy did not change between 5 and 10 years of age, whereas IC performance improved over time. BI scores in toddlerhood predicted neither initial levels (intercept) nor changes (slope) in IC response strategy or IC performance. However, between ages 5 and 10, rate of change in IC performance, but not response strategy, moderated relations between BI and later parent-reported social anxiety symptoms. Specifically, greater age-related improvements in IC performance predicted higher levels of social anxiety in high BI children. Conclusions IC development in childhood occurs independent of BI levels. However, rapid increases in IC performance moderate risk for social anxiety symptoms in children with BI. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

This paper will evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of the organization, Family Promise of Las Vegas. This organization focuses on providing stable housing for homeless families in Southern Nevada. The team of 3Masters used historical information on homelessness and the changes that have occurred in order to understand the current homeless situation. In addition, surveys were used to collect data from previous guests of Family Promise, congregation administrators, and volunteers for the organization. A benchmark study was conducted using similar Family Promise agencies to evaluate additional options for services. Finally, face-to-face interviews with employees were conducted and an on-site observation was done to get a first-hand look at the processes. The 3Masters compiled and analyzed all of this information in order to come up with several recommendations for Family Promise of Las Vegas that will help make the organization more efficient and the services more effective. The first recommendation is to training the congregation administrators to be volunteer recruiters. This short-term recommendation can be implemented easily by providing training and education on Family Promise. There were several mid-term recommendations that all revolved around education of the guests of Family Promise. Three educational sessions are recommended including: financial literacy, being a good tenant, and job training. By offering these additional educational opportunities, Family Promise can help create a more stable living situation for their graduated guests. Finally, there are two long-term recommendations that are made. The first is to provide some sort of pet care for families that have pets. Pets are generally a member of the family and provide love and support that can help guests through a difficult time. The second recommendation is to extend the amount of time for transitional housing or assistance. By providing this assistance for a longer period of time, families can create a more stable living situation that is more sustainable. Implementing these recommendations will help improve the effectiveness and efficiency of Family Promise.

Children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) demonstrate atypical processing of, and memory for, self-referenced information, which may contribute to the heightened rates of co-occurring internalizing problems. We assessed affective and cognitive aspects of self-referential processing in verbally-fluent children with ASD (N = 79), and an age-matched comparison sample (COM, N = 73) of children without an autism diagnosis. We examined group differences in these two aspects of the self-system, and their joint contributions to individual differnces in internalizing problems. Using a self-referenced memory (SRM) task, participants indicated whether a series of positive and negative trait adjectives described themselves and a well-known fictional character. Participants were then surprised with a recognition memory test on the same adjectives. Overall, individuals with ASD showed a reduction in the extent to which they preferentially endorsed positive over negative trait adjectives about themselves, and a reduction in their preferential memory for self- over other-referenced information. Across the full sample, these two aspects of self-referential processing jointly predicted self-reported internalizing problems. Specifically, self-evaluations were strongly and inversely associated with internalizing problems but only for children with relatively high SRM. These findings suggest that the salience of the self influences the extent to which affective self-evaluations impact emotional functioning for youth both with and without ASD. Implications for basic (e.g., developmental) and translational (e.g., intervention) research are discussed. Autism Res 2017, 10: 949-960. © 2016 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Although prior studies have demonstrated reduced resting state EEG coherence in adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), no studies have explored the nature of EEG coherence during joint attention. We examined the EEG coherence of the joint attention network in adolescents with and without ASD during congruent and incongruent joint attention perception and an eyes-open resting condition. Across conditions, adolescents with ASD showed reduced right hemisphere temporal-central alpha coherence compared to typically developing adolescents. Greater right temporal-central alpha coherence during joint attention was positively associated with social cognitive performance in typical development but not in ASD. These results suggest that, in addition to a resting state, EEG coherence during joint attention perception is reduced in ASD.