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This review examined evidence for some core predictions of the response styles theory (RST) concerning the relation between response styles and symptoms of depression and gender differences in the use of response styles in non-clinical children and adolescents. In summarizing the literature, effect sizes (pooled correlation coefficients) were calculated for cross-sectional and longitudinal studies. Stability of the obtained effect sizes was evaluated by means of a fail-safe N analysis. Results indicated that stable and significant effect sizes were found for rumination being associated with concurrent and future levels of depression. When controlling for baseline levels of depression, effect sizes for rumination and distraction were not stable, indicating that these findings should be interpreted with considerable caution. Finally, significant and stable effect sizes for gender differences in response styles were found only for rumination among adolescents. Taken together, the findings partly support the predictions of the response styles theory examined in this meta-analysis and may implicate that rumination is a cognitive vulnerability factor for depressive symptoms among adolescents.

Objective: The efficacy and partial effectiveness of child-focused versus family-focused cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for clinically anxious youths was evaluated, in particular in relation to parental anxiety disorders and child's age. Method: Clinically referred children with anxiety disorders (N= 128) and their parents were randomly assigned to child or family CBT and evaluated at pretreatment, posttreatment, and 3-month follow-up. Twenty-five families were measured before and after a 2- to 3-month waitlist period. Results: None of the waitlisted children recovered from their anxiety disorders. In contrast, 41% of the treated children no longer met criteria for any anxiety disorder after CBT, and 52% demonstrated continued improvement at the 3-month follow-up. Significantly more children were free of anxiety disorders (53%) in the child CBT condition compared with family CBT condition (28%) at posttreatment, whereas at 3-month follow-up, the superior effect of child CBT was no longer significant. Similar results were obtained from the questionnaire measures. Both child and family CBT were less effective if parents had an anxiety disorder themselves. On some of the measures, child CBT was superior if parents had anxiety disorders themselves, whereas family CBT was superior if parents had no anxiety disorders. Finally, younger children had better outcomes than older children, regardless of the treatment condition. Conclusions: Overall, child CBT seems slightly more beneficial than family CBT. Because this study was conducted in a clinical setting with clinically referred children, results indicate partial effectiveness for child CBT. J. Am. Acad. Child Adolesc. Psychiatry, 2008;47(12):1384-1394.

Background: There is growing research interest in the association between parental control and child anxiety. Parental control may enhance child anxiety and parents may exert control in anticipation of their child's anxiety-related distress. Moreover, high levels of anxiety in parents could influence the development of parental control. Whereas past reviews have solely examined the relation between child anxiety and parental control, this meta-analysis focuses on the associations between both child and parent anxiety and parental control. Methods: The associations of parent anxiety and child anxiety with observed parental control (k=23 studies, N= 1,305 parent-child dyads) were investigated using a meta-analytic approach. Moreover, factors were identified that may function as moderators of these relations, such as parent and child gender, family socioeconomic status, child age, and design and measurement characteristics. Results: A substantial association between child anxiety and parental control (d= .58) was found. Moderator analyses yielded the strongest effect sizes for studies with an overrepresentation of girls, for school-aged children, for families from higher socioeconomic backgrounds, and for studies using a discussion task to assess parental control. Although a nonsignificant relation was found for the relation between parent anxiety and parental control (d= .08), small but significant effects were found for school-aged children, for studies using a discussion task to assess parental control, and for samples with an overrepresentation of boys. Conclusions: As the direction of the association between child anxiety and parental control is unknown, future studies should use experimental designs to further explore the causal link between child anxiety and parental control.

Interpretation bias, described as the tendency to interpret social situations in a negative or threatening manner, has been widely linked to social anxiety in adult populations. This study aimed to extend research on interpretation bias to an adolescent population. Thirty-seven high socially anxious and a control group of 36 non-socially anxious adolescents rated the likelihood of different interpretations of ambiguous social and non-social situations coming to mind and which interpretation they most believed. Results showed that negative interpretations of social situations were more common in the high anxious than control group. Such negative bias could not be accounted for by high levels of negative affect. The groups did not differ as to their positive interpretations. Furthermore, there was evidence for content specificity of interpretation bias; high anxious adolescents were not more negative than control participants in their interpretations of non-social situations. Findings are discussed in relation to the adult literature and their clinical relevance is considered.

Objectives Patients with social anxiety disorder (SAD) not only fear social rejection, but accumulating evidence also shows that they are indeed less liked than their non-anxious counterparts. Three factors are hypothesized to play a role in this social anxiety–social rejection relationship: (1) social performance; (2) elicited negative emotions, and (3) perceived similarity. Method Patients with SAD (N = 63) and control participants (N = 27) were observed during a 5 minutes ‘getting acquainted’ conversation with a male and female confederate who rated their social performance. Video-observers rated their own negative emotions and perceived similarity with the patients, while other video-observers rated their wish to engage in future contact with them (a measure of social rejection). Results Analysed by way of structural equation modelling (SEM), the results supported the social anxiety–social rejection relationship. More specifically, poor social performance was associated with perceived dissimilarity ratings and mediated by evoked negative emotions, both of which were in turn associated with social rejection. Conclusion These results suggest that a sequence of events links social anxiety to social rejection. Treatment should aim to improve social performance and perceived similarity to reverse SAD's vicious, negative interpersonal cycle.

A prevalence-based cost-of-illness study using a societal perspective was conducted to investigate the cost-of-illness in clinically anxious youth aged 8-18 in The Netherlands. Discriminant validity of the cost diary used was obtained by comparing costs of families with an anxious child (n = 118) to costs of families from the general population (n = 41). To examine the convergent validity, bottom-up acquired costs derived from cost diaries were compared to top-down acquired costs obtained from national registrations. Bottom-up acquired costs measured by means of cost diaries amounted to Euro 2,748 per family of a clinically referred anxious child per annum. Societal costs of families with clinically anxious children were almost 21 times as high compared to families from the general population. With respect to convergent validity, total health care costs using the bottom-up approach from clinically anxious children were quite comparable to those of top-down data of anxious children, although costs within the subcategories differed considerably. Clinical anxiety disorders in childhood cost the Dutch society more than 20 million euros a year. Based on results of discriminate and convergent validity, the cost diary seems a valid method in establishing cost-of-illness in childhood anxiety disorders.

Conviction subtype Taijin-Kyofu (c-TK) is a subgroup of mental disorder characterized by conviction and strong fear of offending others in social situations. Although the concept of c-TK overlaps with that of social anxiety disorder (SAD), patients with c-TK often may not be diagnosed as such within the current Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)-IV criteria. We propose the Nagoya-Osaka criteria to amend this situation. This study examined the cross-cultural interrater reliability of the proposed criteria. Eighteen case vignettes of patients with a variety of complaints focused around social anxieties were collected from 6 different countries, and diagnosed by 13 independent raters from various nationalities according to the original DSM-IV and the expanded criteria. The average agreement ratio for the most frequent diagnostic category in each case was 61.5% with DSM-IV and 87.6% with the modified DSM-IV with Nagoya-Osaka criteria (p < 0.001). These findings indicate that the Nagoya-Osaka criteria for SAD can improve interrater reliability of SAD.

Deze studie onderzocht de effectiviteit van een cognitieve gedragstherapie gericht op het kind (kind-CGT) in vergelijking met een CGT voor het hele gezin (gezins-CGT). Opmerkelijke resultaten werden gevonden: direct na de behandeling was kind-CGT effectiever dan gezins-CGT. Drie maanden na de therapie werd geen verschil meer gevonden tussen beide condities. Gezins-CGT bleek ook geen meerwaarde te hebben wanneer ouders een angststoornis hadden, en evenmin wanneer het jonge kinderen betrof. Gezins-CGT was niet kosteneffectieverdan kind-CGT.

Mindfulness training was evaluated as a new treatment for attention and impulsivity problems in adolescents with a variety of different externalizing disorders: attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder, oppositional-defiant and/or conduct disorder, and autism spectrum disorder if characterized by externalizing problem behaviour. It was argued that the large overlap between these three disorders may be partially explained by common underlying attention and behaviour control deficits. Fourteen clinically referred adolescents suffering from externalizing disorders followed mindfulness training in a group format. Parallel, their parents received mindful parenting training. Adolescents and their parents were measured before and after waitlist, after 8-week training, and at 8-week follow-up. No improvement occurred during waitlist on most variables. After mindfulness training, children self-reported substantial improvement on personal goals, internalizing and externalizing complaints, attention problems, happiness, and mindful awareness, and performed better on a sustained attention test. Likewise, parents reported improvement on children's goals, externalizing and attention problems, self-control, attunement to others and withdrawal. In addition, parents improved on their own goals. Improvement was maintained 8 weeks after the training. Consistent with mindfulness theory, increased child awareness after training predicted longer-term improvement in parent-rated child symptoms. Concomitant parent and child mindfulness training appears to be a promising approach for clinic-referred adolescents with attention and impulsivity problems.

Parents of children with anxiety disorders are found to be over controlling and more rejecting in parent-child interactions than parents of control children. However, most studies included mothers, and the rearing behaviour of fathers of anxious children is largely unknown. Also, it remains unclear whether parents’ control and rejection is a response to child’s anxiety, or (also) results from parents’ own anxiety. Participants were 121 children referred with anxiety disorders and 38 control children, and their parents. The diagnostic status of all parents was assessed. Each child conducted discussions around issues of disagreement, with father, with mother, and with both parents. Compared to parents of control children, fathers and mothers of clinically anxious children displayed more control to their child, but not more rejection, and fathers supported their partner less. Effect sizes, however, were small. In families of fathers with anxiety disorders, fathers were borderline more controlling and rejecting and mothers more rejecting towards their anxious child than in families of fathers without anxiety disorders. Fathers with anxiety disorders dominated the conversation relative to mothers, which was associated with greater controlling of the child. Effect sizes were medium. Mothers’ anxiety status was not associated with different rearing behaviours in both parents. It is concluded that fathers’ anxiety status seems to make the difference in raising an anxious child.

Our Western society is characterized by multitasking, competition, and constant time pressure. Negative effects of stress for the individual (anxiety, depression, somatic complaints) and for organizations and society (costs due to work absence) are very high. Thus, time-efficient self-help interventions to address these issues are necessary. This study assessed the effects of daily mindfulness meditations (MM) versus daily heart rate variability biofeedback (HRV-BF) and daily physical exercise (PE) on attention control, executive functioning, mindful awareness, self-compassion, and worrying. Young adults (n = 75, age range 18 to 40) with elevated stress levels were randomized to MM, HRV-BF, or PE, and measurements were taken at pre-test, post-test, and follow-up. Interventions in all three groups were self-guided and lasted for 5 weeks. Generalized estimating equation analyses showed that overall, all three interventions were effective and did not differ from each other. However, practice time differed between groups, with participants in the PE group practicing much more than participants in the other two groups. Therefore, additional analyses were carried out in two subsamples. The optimal dose sample included only those participants who practiced for at least 70 % of the total prescribed time. In the equal dose sample, home practice intensity was equal for all three groups. Again, the effects of the three interventions did not differ. In conclusion, MM, HRV-BF, and PE are all effective self-help methods to improve attention control, executive functioning, mindful awareness, self-compassion, and worrying, and mindfulness meditation was not found to be more effective than HRV-biofeedback or physical exercise for these cognitive processes.

Between 10 and 14 months, infants gain the ability to learn about unfamiliar stimuli by observing others’ emotional reactions to those stimuli, so called social referencing (SR). Joint processing of emotion and head/gaze direction is essential for SR. This study tested emotion and head/gaze direction effects on infants’ attention via pupillometry in the period following the emergence of SR. Pupil responses of 14-to-17-month-old infants (N = 57) were measured during computerized presentations of unfamiliar objects alone, before-and-after being paired with emotional (happy, sad, fearful vs. neutral) faces gazing towards (vs. away) from objects. Additionally, the associations of infants’ temperament, and parents’ negative affect/depression/anxiety with infants’ pupil responses were explored. Both mothers and fathers of participating infants completed questionnaires about their negative affect, depression and anxiety symptoms and their infants’ negative temperament. Infants allocated more attention (larger pupils) to negative vs. neutral faces when the faces were presented alone, while they allocated less attention to objects paired with emotional vs. neutral faces independent of head/gaze direction. Sad (but not fearful) temperament predicted more attention to emotional faces. Infants’ sad temperament moderated the associations of mothers’ depression (but not anxiety) with infants’ attention to objects. Maternal depression predicted more attention to objects paired with emotional expressions in infants low in sad temperament, while it predicted less attention in infants high in sad temperament. Fathers’ depression (but not anxiety) predicted more attention to objects paired with emotional expressions independent of infants’ temperament. We conclude that infants’ own temperamental dispositions for sadness, and their exposure to mothers’ and fathers’ depressed moods may influence infants’ attention to emotion-object associations in social learning contexts.

BACKGROUND: This research investigates the relationship between challenging parenting behaviour and childhood anxiety disorders proposed by Bögels and Phares (2008). Challenging parenting behaviour involves the playful encouragement of children to go beyond their own limits, and may decrease children's risk for anxiety (Bögels and Phares, 2008).METHOD: Parents (n=164 mothers and 144 fathers) of 164 children aged between 3.4 and 4.8 years participated in the current study. A multi-method, multi-informant assessment of anxiety was used, incorporating data from diagnostic interviews as well as questionnaire measures. Parents completed self-report measures of their parenting behaviour (n=147 mothers and 138 fathers) and anxiety (n=154 mothers and 143 fathers). Mothers reported on their child's anxiety via questionnaire as well as diagnostic interview (n=156 and 164 respectively). Of these children, 74 met criteria for an anxiety disorder and 90 did not.RESULTS: Fathers engaged in challenging parenting behaviour more often than mothers. Both mothers' and fathers' challenging parenting behaviour was associated with lower report of child anxiety symptoms. However, only mothers' challenging parenting behaviour was found to predict child clinical anxiety diagnosis.LIMITATIONS: Shared method variance from mothers confined the interpretation of these results. Moreover, due to study design, it is not possible to delineate cause and effect.CONCLUSIONS: The finding with respect to maternal challenging parenting behaviour was not anticipated, prompting replication of these results. Future research should investigate the role of challenging parenting behaviour by both caregivers as this may have implications for parenting interventions for anxious children.

In this meta-analysis we investigated differential associations between maternal and paternal parenting behaviors (overcontrol, overprotection, overinvolvement, autonomy granting, challenging parenting) and anxiety and its precursors (fearful temperament, behavioral inhibition, shyness) in children (0-5 years). Two meta-analyses were conducted, one for mothers (k = 28, N = 5,728), and one for fathers (k = 12, N = 1,019). In general, associations between parenting and child anxiety were small. Associations between child anxiety and overcontrol, overprotection, and overinvolvement did not differ for mothers and fathers. Maternal autonomy granting was not significantly related to child anxiety, and no studies examined fathers' autonomy granting. A significant difference was found for challenging parenting; mothers' challenging parenting was not significantly related to child anxiety, whereas fathers' challenging parenting was related to less child anxiety. Post-hoc meta-analyses revealed that mothers' and fathers' parenting was more strongly related to children's anxiety symptoms than to child anxiety precursors. Moreover, the association between parenting and child anxiety symptoms was stronger for fathers than for mothers. In conclusion, although parenting plays only a small role in early childhood anxiety, fathers' parenting is at least as important as mothers'. Paternal challenging behavior even seems more important than maternal challenging behavior. Research is needed to determine whether challenging fathering can prevent child anxiety development.

Blushing has adaptive social functions. However, blushing is also assumed to be a hallmark of social anxiety and shyness. For the first time, blushing and its relation to the expressions of shyness and social anxiety was examined in early childhood. Four-and-a-half-year-old children (N = 102) were asked to perform (singing in front of an audience) and watched back their performance in the presence of that audience. Physiological blushing (blood volume pulse, blood volume, and cheek temperature) was measured, and positive (gaze and/or head aversion with smiling) and negative expressions of shyness (gaze and/or head aversion with negative facial expressions) were observed. In addition, both parents reported their child's social anxiety level. A higher level of blushing response was related to greater social anxiety in children who displayed few positive shy expressions, but not in children who displayed many positive shy expressions during the performance. Moreover, children who expressed many negative shy expressions were highly socially anxious, no matter their blushing. Our findings suggest that blushing appears to be an early indicator of social anxiety in children who are not able to successfully cope with fearful social situations. In contrast, blushing, in combination with positive shy behaviors, appears to be an adaptive social mechanism that may protect from heightened social anxiety. (PsycINFO Database Record

In contemporary western societies stress is highly prevalent, therefore the need for stress-reducing methods is great. This randomized controlled trial compared the efficacy of self-help physical activity (PA), mindfulness meditation (MM), and heart rate variability biofeedback (HRV-BF) in reducing stress and its related symptoms. We randomly allocated 126 participants to PA, MM, or HRV-BF upon enrollment, of whom 76 agreed to participate. The interventions consisted of psycho-education and an introduction to the specific intervention techniques and 5 weeks of daily exercises at home. The PA exercises consisted of a vigorous-intensity activity of free choice. The MM exercises consisted of guided mindfulness meditation. The HRV-BF exercises consisted of slow breathing with a heart rate variability biofeedback device. Participants received daily reminders for their exercises and were contacted weekly to monitor their progress. They completed questionnaires prior to, directly after, and 6 weeks after the intervention. Results indicated an overall beneficial effect consisting of reduced stress, anxiety and depressive symptoms, and improved psychological well-being and sleep quality. No significant between-intervention effect was found, suggesting that PA, MM, and HRV-BF are equally effective in reducing stress and its related symptoms. These self-help interventions provide easily accessible help for people with stress complaints.

Item does not contain fulltext Background and Objectives: Cognitive theories suggest that cognitive biases may be related and together influence the anxiety response. However, little is known about the interrelations of cognitive bias tasks and whether they allow for an improved prediction of fear-related behavior in addition to self-reports. This study simultaneously addressed several types of cognitive biases in children, to investigate attention bias, interpretation bias, memory bias and fear-related associations, their interrelations and the prediction of behavior. Methods: Eighty-one children varying in their levels of spider fear completed the Spider Anxiety and Disgust Screening for Children (SADS-C) and performed two Emotional Stroop tasks, a Free Recall task, an interpretation task including size and distance indication, an Affective Priming Task, and a Behavioral Assessment Test (BAT). Results: We found an attention bias, interpretation bias, and fear-related associations, but no evidence for a memory bias. The biases showed little overlap. Attention bias, interpretation bias, and fear-related associations predicted unique variance in avoidance of spiders. Interpretation bias and fear-related associations remained significant predictors, even when self-reported fear was included as a predictor. Limitations: Children were not seeking help for their spider fear and were not tested on clinical levels of spider phobia. Conclusions: This is the first study to find evidence that different cognitive biases each predict unique variance in avoidance behavior. Furthermore, it is also the first study in which we found evidence for a relation between fear of spiders and size and distance indication. We showed that this bias is distinct from other cognitive biases. 7 p.

Interpretation and judgmental biases concerning negative evaluation are considered important maintaining factors in social phobia. Cognitive models imply that solely changing these core cognitions reduces social anxiety. Standardizing such an intervention in these core biases may simplify and shorten treatment and therefore increase its accessibility. We present pilot data (n = 13) of a short (9 sessions), standardized cognitive therapy developed to intervene directly and solely in interpretation and judgmental biases in social phobia. Described are the design of this therapy and the cognitive techniques. This short therapy was effective in reducing social phobic complaints (effect size of 1.4) and interpretation and judgmental biases. In addition, we have indications that this treatment has high accessibility because of its short duration and standardization. Keywords: social phobia; cognitive therapy; interpretation bias; judgmental bias; accessibility Fear of negative evaluation is the core fear of patients with social phobia. Social-phobic patients are found to be more likely than normal controls to pick a negative interpretation of social events (e.g., "Two acquaintances are looking at you: they are gossiping about me."), but do not show this tendency regarding nonsocial events (e.g., "Receiving a letter which states 'important': a relative died") (Amir, Foa, & Coles, 1998; Stopa & Clark, 2000; Voncken, Bogels, & de Vries, 2003). In this connection, they also overestimate the probability of a negative evaluation in social events (e.g., "they are gossiping about me") and the cost of this negative evaluation, whereas they do not show this bias in nonsocial events (Foa, Franklin, Perry, & Herbert, 1996; McManus, Clark, & Hackmann, 2000; Voncken et al., 2003). In other words, they show a content-specific interpretation and judgmental bias regarding social events. In cognitive models these biases are assumed to play a central role in the maintenance of social phobia (Clark, 2001; Clark & Wells, 1995). Three studies indeed found that reduction in judgmental bias in a social event mediates the recovery from social phobia (Hofmann, 2004; Foa et al., 1996; McManus et al., 2000). The cognitive model considers distorted cognitions (e.g., interpretation and judgmental biases) about negative evaluation to be the core problem in social phobia, leading to various other invalidating processes, such as self-focused attention, safety behaviors, and somatic and cognitive symptoms (Clark, 2001; Clark & Wells, 1995). For this reason, improvement in cognitive distortions without intervention in these other processes should theoretically lead to improvement of social anxiety. To our knowledge, no treatment so far has exclusively intervened in these distorted cognitions in social phobia. Most cognitive-behavioral treatments address other factors as well, such as avoidance, self-focused attention, safety behaviors, or social skills (Rodebaugh, Holaway, & Heimberg, 2004; Taylor, 1996). Therefore, evaluating an exclusive intervention in core cognitive distortions allows for a more direct test of the cognitive model. Interference in interpretation and judgmental biases concerning negative evaluation seems a good candidate for such an intervention as the aforementioned studies imply. In addition, biases lend themselves to simple cognitive techniques. Clark and Wells (1995) developed a highly effective treatment for social phobia (effect-size by Cohen d with pooled SD was 2.5 [Clark et al., 2003], and 1.7 [Stangier, Heidenreich, Peitz, Lauterbach, & Clark, 2003]) that is remarkably more effective than former cognitive treatments (Rodebaugh et al., 2004; Taylor, 1996). Besides correcting dysfunctional cognitions, this treatment intervenes in other factors, such as dropping of safety behaviors, directing attention externally, modifying distorted self-images, and dealing with "post-mortem" processing. …

A new treatment for social phobia is evaluated: mindfulness training and task concentration training. The treatment consisted of nine sessions of 45-60 minutes and was administered individually. Nine severely socially phobic patients participated. No changes in complaints were observed during the waiting-list period. One patient withdrew during the treatment. Results show that treatment was well accepted and highly effective in reducing social phobia, and results were maintained at a 2-month follow-up. Effects of the treatment were most pronounced on Fear of Negative Evaluation and on the self-ideal discrepancy. Attention as well as cognitive changes may be responsible for the effectiveness. Explanations for the effects and clinical implications are discussed. Keywords: mindfulness; Task Concentration Training; social phobia; attention Current models of social phobia assume that attention processes are crucial in the maintenance of social phobia (e.g., Clark & Wells, 1995; Hartman, 1983; Hope, Gansler, & Heimberg, 1989). Three types of attention processes have been found to maintain social fears: hypervigilance, attentional avoidance, and heightened self-focused attention (for a recent review of the empirical evidence of these processes in social phobia, see Bogels & Mansell, 2004). First, social phobic patients scrutinize their environment and themselves for possible signs of danger (e.g., a frown, an imminent blush), which is called hypervigilance. Second, they avoid spending prolonged attention to external and internal aspects of social interaction (e.g., avoiding eye contact, avoiding looking in the mirror). Third, they are excessively self-focused, that is, they see themselves through the eyes of others and become objects rather than subjects in a social situation. These three processes of attention may interact and together or separately maintain social phobia in the following ways. First, patients do not process adequately external and internal information that may disconfirm their negative social beliefs. Second, patients' awareness of their fear, arousal, and possible flaws in their performance is heightened. Third, these attention processes may even increase arousal and nervous appearance and interfere with satisfactory social behavior (e.g., listening), thereby confirming patients' fear of negative evaluation. Task concentration training (TCT) is a new intervention developed to directly intervene in these maladaptive attention processes (Bogels, Mulkens, & de Jong, 1997; Mulkens, Bogels & de long, 1999). The goal of TCT is to learn to redirect attention away from the self and to the task at hand (e.g., a conversation), as a way of coping with social anxiety. TCT was found to be highly effective for subclinical (advertisement-recruited) "socially phobic persons" (n = 26) with fear of blushing as the main complaint, and more effective in reducing their dysfunctional beliefs about blushing than exposure alone (Mulkens, Bogels, de Jong, & Louwers, 2001). In line with this, Wells and Papageorgiou (1998) found that exposure plus focusing attention outward more effectively reduced social anxiety than exposure alone in 8 patients with social phobia. The combination of TCT and cognitive therapy was extremely effective for social phobic patients (n = 65) with fear of blushing, trembling, sweating, and freezing as the more important complaints; effect sizes reached 2.5 (Bogels, in press). Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) training (Kabat-Zinn, 1990) is another type of attention training, providing systematic training in mindfulness meditation as a self-regulatory approach to facilitate adaptation to medical illness, stress reduction, and emotion management (for a review of the effects of MBSR, see Bishop, 2002). MBSR training was effective for a group of patients with mixed anxiety disorders (Kabat-Zinn et al., 1992), and results were maintained at a 3-year follow-up (Miller, Fletcher, & Kabat-Zinn, 1995). …

Social phobia patients with fear of blushing, trembling, sweating and/or freezing as main complaint (N = 65) were randomly assigned to either task concentration training (TCT) or applied relaxation (AR) both followed by cognitive therapy (CT). Measurements took place before and after wait-list, after TCT or AR (within-test), after CT (post-test), at 3-months and at 1-year follow-up. Effects were assessed on fear of showing bodily symptoms (the central outcome variable), social phobia, other psychopathology, social skills, self-consciousness, self-focused attention, and dysfunctional beliefs. No changes occurred during wait-list. Both treatments were highly effective. TCT was superior to AR in reducing fear of bodily symptoms and dysfunctional beliefs at within-test. This difference disappeared after CT, at post-test and at 3-months follow-up. However, at 1-year follow-up the combination TCT-CT was superior to AR-CT in reducing fear of bodily symptoms, and effect sizes for TCT-CT reached 3. Furthermore, at all assessment moments TCT or the combination TCT-CT was superior to AR-CT in reducing self-consciousness and self-focused attention. The superior long-term effect of TCT on fear of showing bodily symptoms is explained by lasting changes in attentional focus.

Deze casus gaat over een adolescent die gediagnosticeerd is met Aandachts- en Hyperactiviteitstoornis (ADHD), en daarvoor een mindfulness training in groepsverband volgt. Zijn vader volgt parallel de mindful parenting training samen met andere ouders van de andere kinderen in de adolescentengroep. Het programma heet 'MYmind' en bestaat uit acht sessies van 1,5 uur voor de jongeren, acht parallelle oudersessies ook van 1,5 uur, en een follow-up sessie voor jongeren en ouders acht weken na de laatste sessie1.

This study investigated the relationship between child anxiety, parental anxiety, and perceived current parental rearing practices, using a multiple informants approach, that is, by aggregating the perception of the child, parent and partner on parental rearing behaviors. Unselected children aged 9–12 (n=75) and both their biological parents filled in the SCARED-C to measure child anxiety, and parents completed the SCARED-A to measure parental anxiety. In addition, child report, parental self-report, and partner report of the rearing dimensions “autonomy-encouragement versus overprotection”, “acceptance versus rejection”, and “psychological control” of both parents was assessed. Results showed that the homogeneity of some rearing dimensions using a single informant was insufficient, but sufficient when using multiple informants. Inter-informant agreement was low (M=0.29). Three-informants' aggregates yielded good generalizability (M=0.54), and the generalizability of six-informants' aggregates (combining both parents) was impressive (M=0.76). Using multiple informants, parental autonomy granting versus overprotection was substantially related to child anxiety (r=−0.41, p

There have been significant advances in recent years in the understanding and treatment of social phobia, which are summarised in this Special Issue. This paper outlines and describes some further priority areas for future research. It is suggested that social phobia should be investigated as a developmental condition, with special attention to the first two years of life; and subtypes of social phobia be further explored and their implication for treatment. Social phobia is often comorbid with other disorders and its relationship with these disorders warrants further investigation with respect to causality and treatment implications. Lastly, the investigation of social phobia within a health services research context is highlighted with the necessity of refining the design of clinical trials to establish the efficacy and effectiveness of current treatments.

Objective: To examine the reliability and validity of the 66-item Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders-Revised (SCARED-R), a questionnaire for measuring a broad range of DSM-defined anxiety disorder symptoms, in a sample of clinically referred youths. Method: The SCARED-R was administered to children/adolescents and their parents during the standard intake assessment. SCARED-R scores were compared against Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) scores, DSM-IV axis I classifications, and global assessment of functioning (GAF) ratings. Results: In this sample of clinically referred youths, the SCARED-R was reliable in terms of internal consistency and showed reasonable child–parent agreement. Furthermore, SCARED-R scores correlated significantly with CBCL internalising but not with externalising. Within the group of children with anxiety disorders, SCARED-R scores were also negatively associated with children's daily functioning as rated on the GAF scale. Finally, SCARED-R scores had satisfactory discriminant validity (both between anxiety disorders and other problems and within anxiety disorders), and appeared to have reasonable value for predicting specific anxiety disorders. Conclusion: The SCARED-R is a valuable addition to the arsenal of questionnaires that are used for the assessment of anxiety in youths.

Accumulating evidence shows that the prenatal period lays an important fundament under the future prospective of a child. The studies presented in the article "How the First Nine Months Shape the Rest of Our Lives" fit well into this field of research, in which the scope of the developmental origins of health and disease (DOHaD) researchers has broadened their interest towards mental health. Other lines of research preceded or paralleled this interest in the child's prenatal programming, as evidenced by numerous published review papers. Nonetheless, we still lack knowledge on the potential underlying mechanisms that link either general prenatal adverse environmental factors or more specific exposures to a hampered child development. To further this field of research, we suggest that studies should go beyond the longitudinal and epidemiological approach, and include intervention studies to test for causality of prenatal risk factors. Several promising interventions targeting prenatal maternal stress are currently studied to examine their effectiveness in reducing maternal stress and thereby reducing risk for the foetus and the child. Finally, we need to realise that the postnatal environment may be able to compensate for less-than-optimal prenatal circumstances. In that perspective, prenatal factors may be less programming than several authors suggest. © 2013 The Australian Psychological Society.

Previous research demonstrated that social phobia is characterized by content-specific interpretation and judgmental biases. The present study investigated whether this interpretation bias occurs not only in ambiguous, but also in positive and negative social events, and whether social phobic patients (SPs) are more characterized by a judgmental bias in costs than in probability. Besides, we argued that the judgmental bias observed in former studies could also be attributed to accurate estimations of SPs (of, for example, stuttering). Therefore, we assessed judgmental bias by the ratings of probability and costs of a negative evaluation (e.g. ‘people dislike me’) and not, as in previous studies, of negative social events (e.g. ‘stuttering’). SPs (n=228) and normal controls (n=33) were presented social and non-social events ranging from positive to profoundly negative. They ranked four different interpretations on likelihood to assess interpretation bias, and rated the profoundly negative interpretation on probability and cost to assess judgmental bias. SPs demonstrated content-specific interpretation and judgmental biases that also occurred in positive and negative social events. In contrast with expectations, SPs were characterized by a judgmental bias in both costs and probability.

Anxious children are found to interpret ambiguous stories in a negative way. The current study attempted to examine the possible influence of parental fear and parental interpretation bias on the maintenance of such an interpretation bias. Children varying in level of anxiety (n=25) and their parents, filled in a questionnaire to measure their own fears, and gave their interpretations concerning nine ambiguous stories, relevant for childhood ‘interactional’ anxieties: social anxiety, separation anxiety, and generalized anxiety. Then, parents were asked to talk with their children about three of the stories. After the family discussion the children had to give their final interpretations. Results indicated that parents' self-reported fear level and interpretation bias were associated with children's interpretation bias before the family discussion. However, no evidence was found for the idea that parents maintain or enhance the interpretation bias of their children. That is, irrespective of parental fear and parental interpretation bias, children interpreted the ambiguous stories as less negative after discussing them with their parents. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Most studies investigating the role of parenting behavior in the intergenerational transmission of anxiety from parents to children have focused on mothers. However, recent research suggests that mothers and fathers may parent differently and may differentially affect the development of child anxiety. Theoretical models propose that anxious parents engage in more anxiety-provoking and less anxiety-reducing parenting behavior than non-anxious parents. However, findings are inconsistent, possibly because most studies have not differentiated between anxiety disorders. Therefore, it remains unclear which specific anxiety disorders are linked to parenting behavior. This study examined (1) whether symptoms of specific parental anxiety disorders are linked to overinvolvement and challenging parenting behavior towards infants; and (2) the differential relationship of maternal/paternal overinvolvement and challenging parenting behavior with infant anxiety. Parents of 81 infants (10-15 months) completed the Overinvolvement and Challenging parenting behavior (CPB) scales of the Comprehensive Parenting Behavior Questionnaire, the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders-Adult version, and the Fear scale of the Infant Behavior Questionnaire-Revised. Linear regressions showed that mothers’ generalized anxiety disorder symptoms were associated with less CPB and more overinvolvement, whereas fathers’ social anxiety disorder symptoms were associated with less CPB and more overinvolvement. Moreover, paternal, but not maternal, CPB was associated with less infant anxiety, and overinvolvement with more infant anxiety. Findings suggest that (1) different dimensions of paternal/maternal anxiety are linked to their parenting behavior; (2) maternal/paternal parenting behaviors are differentially associated with infant anxiety.

We examined (1) whether families of clinic-referred anxiety-disordered children are characterized by anxiety-enhancing parenting and family functioning, compared to control families; (2) whether family cognitive-behavioral therapy (FCBT) for anxiety-disordered children decreases anxiety-enhancing parenting and family functioning more so than child-focused cognitive-behavioral therapy (CCBT); (3) whether anxiety-disordered children benefit more from therapy in the long-term when parents display less anxiety enhancing parenting and family functioning. The referred sample consisted of 104 anxiety-disordered children (8-18 year-olds) and their families, randomized to FCBT or CCBT. The control sample consisted of 44 families from the general population. At pretreatment (referred and control sample), posttreatment, 3-months and 1-year follow up (referred sample), children’s anxiety disorders were assessed by the ADIS-C/P. Child and parents’ anxiety symptoms, parenting behaviors (autonomy granting, overprotection, rejection) and family functioning (relational functioning, family control) were assessed with questionnaires. Parent-reported autonomy granting and family relational functioning were lower in the referred versus control families. Child-reported autonomy granting was higher in the referred families. Anxiety-enhancing parenting/family functioning decreased after FCBT and CCBT, with no differences between treatments. Good family relational functioning at posttreatment predicted more improvement on anxiety measurements at the long term for adolescents, but not for school-aged children. The generally hold idea that certain parenting styles and family functioning cause child anxiety, and need to be specifically targeted in the treatment of anxious children, is not supported. Good relational functioning within adolescent’s families however is associated with better long-term outcome on anxiety, suggesting that families can support the maintenance of treatment gains.

Angststoornissen zijn familiaal bepaald. Naast overerving spelen opvoedings- en gezinsfactoren een rol bij de instandhouding van angst bij kinderen. Therapie-evaluatieonderzoek laat zien dat de enige ‘evidence-based’ behandeling voor angststoornissen bij kinderen, cognitieve gedragstherapie, aanmerkelijk beter werkt wanneer de ouders in de therapie worden betrokken. In dit artikel wordt een nieuwe therapie beschreven die is ontwikkeld voor de behandeling van kinderen met angststoornissen en hun gezin: gezins-cognitieve gedragstherapie. De therapie wordt met een casus gedemonstreerd. De behandeling blijkt effectief voor kinderen en adolescenten met ernstige angststoornissen. De eerste effecten van de therapie bij de zeventien gezinnen die op deze wijze zijn behandeld worden beschreven.

Het verhoogd voorkomen van angststoornissen in sommige families wijst op een overdracht ervan van ouders op kinderen. Er wordt een overzicht gegeven van deze overdracht. Genetische factoren blijken een significante bijdrage te leveren. Zij zijn echter weinig specifiek. Of er werkelijk een angststoornis zal ontstaan, hangt ook samen met omgevingsfactoren. Beschreven wordt hoe genetische en omgevingsfactoren elkaar wederzijds beinvloeden en welke implicaties dit heeft voor het praktisch handelen.

This study investigated the effects of heightened self-awareness (SAW) on various aspects of social anxiety. High and low socially anxious (SA) participants (N = 72) had a conversation with two confederates. SAW was manipulated with mirrors: half of the participants could see their reflection in three large mirrors during the conversation. In contrast with expectations, SAW did not increase fear, blushing, physiological arousal (skin conductance and facial coloration), and negative thinking, and did not interfere with task performance. Independent of the experimental manipulation, high SA persons displayed a generally higher level of facial coloration (blushing) than low SA persons. No evidence was found for the prediction that high SA persons overpredict their blushing and underpredict their social skills, compared to low SA persons.

This study investigated whether parenting behaviors differed between parents of 68 clinically anxious children and 106 healthy control children aged 4-12 years. The effects of parent gender, child gender and child age on parenting were explored. Mothers and fathers completed a questionnaire to assess parenting behaviors in for children hypothetically anxious situations. Results showed that parents of clinically anxious children reported more anxiety-enhancing parenting (reinforcement of dependency and punishment) as well as more positive parenting (positive reinforcement). For the clinical sample, fathers reported using more modeling/reassurance than mothers, and parents reported using more force with their 4-7-year-olds than with their 8-12-year-olds. No interaction effects were found for child gender with child anxiety status on parenting. Results indicate that for intervention, it is important to measure parenting behaviors, and to take into account father and mother differences and the age of the child.

The study describes the development and psychometric evaluation of a self-report questionnaire for use in both treatment-outcome research and process studies: the Agoraphobic Self-Statements Questionnaire (ASQ). The ASQ comprises two subscales: a positive self-statements subscale and a negative self-statements subscale. Confirmatory factor analysis showed that, with the exception of one item, the proposed bidimensional structure of the ASQ reappeared in a second agoraphobic patient sample. Internal consistency of both subscales was satisfactory. Both subscales appeared to be sensitive to change in treatment and discriminated between agoraphobic patients and normal controls. Construct validity of the negative subscale was satisfactory, whilst additional validation of the positive subscale is required. Findings also revealed that positive thinking may serve as a coping device and that the occurrence of negative self-statements might be considered a sine qua non for the occurrence of positive self-statements. It is concluded that the ASQ can contribute to the understanding of cognitive processes during treatment of agoraphobia.

Patients with fear of blushing as the predominant complaint (N = 31) were randomly assigned to (1) exposure in vivo (EXP), or (2) task concentration training (TCT), in order to test the effect of redirecting attention above exposure only. In addition, it was investigated whether treatment reduced actual blush behavior; therefore, physiological parameters of blushing were measured during two behavioral tests. Half of the patients served as waiting-list controls first. Assessments were held before and after treatment, at 6-weeks, and at 1-year follow-up. Both treatments appeared to be effective in reducing fear of blushing and realizing cognitive change, Yet, at posttest, TCT tended to produce better results with respect to fear of blushing. At 6-weeks follow-up, TCT produced significantly more cognitive change. At 1-year follow-up, patients further improved, while differential effects had disappeared, The reduction in fear of blushing was not paralleled by a reduction in actual blush behavior during the behavioral assessments. Thus, it seems that fear of blushing reflects a fearful preoccupation, irrespective of actual facial coloration.

Bij een groep van 170 kinderen die waren aangemeld bij een RIAGG werd onderzoek gedaan naar de samenhang tussen de Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) en de DSM–III–R–classificatie. Een onderzoeker kreeg de opdracht om op basis van het door de ouders ingevulde gedragsprobleemgedeelte van de CBCL te komen tot de meest waarschijnlijke DSM–III–R–classificatie(s). Deze ‘CBCL–classificatie’ werd vergeleken met de DSM–III–R–classificatie die op basis van een uitgebreide intake was vastgesteld. Bij 65,4% van de kinderen bleken de CBCL– en intake–classificaties met elkaar overeen te komen (kappa = 0,62).

According to cognitive theories of anxiety, anxious adults interpret ambiguous situations in a negative way: They overestimate danger and underestimate their abilities to cope with danger. The present study investigated whether children with social phobia, separation anxiety disorder, and generalized anxiety disorder have such a bias, compared to a clinical and a normal control group. Children were exposed to stories in which ambiguous situations were described, and asked to give their interpretations, using open and closed responses. Results showed that anxious children reported more negative cognitions than control children. However, anxious children did not overestimate danger on the free responses, but they did judge the situations as more dangerous on the closed responses. Anxious children had lower estimations of their own competency to cope with danger than the control groups on both open and closed responses. The results indicate that children with anxiety disorders have dysfunctional cognitions about ambiguous situations.

The current study examined the relationship between childhood anxiety and threat perception abnormalities. Children (N = 105) were exposed to stories reflecting three types of anxiety: social anxiety, separation anxiety, and generalized anxiety. From children's reactions to the stories, a number of threat perception indices were derived. Children's level of anxiety was assessed by means of questionnaires and a structured diagnostic interview. Results indicated that high levels of anxiety, as measured by questionnaires and interview, were accompanied by a high frequency of threat perception, high ratings of threat, a high frequency of threatening interpretations, high levels of negative feelings and cognitions, and an early detection of threat. Furthermore, results seemed to suggest that threat perception abnormalities were mediated by children's general level of anxiety rather than by levels of specific anxiety symptoms.

An illusory correlation (IC) experiment examined the presence of a phobia-relevant covariation bias in the context of social anxiety. 60 female college students (28 with low and 32 with high social anxiety) were shown a series of slides comprising pictures of angry, happy, and neutral faces which were randomly paired with either a shock, a siren or nothing. One half of the Ss were shown female faces, whereas the other half were shown male faces. Ss indicated outcome expectancies on a trial by trial basis. After the experiment proper they estimated the contingencies of all slide/outcome combinations. Ss showed both an a priori and an a posteriori IC between angry faces and shock. This covariation bias was similar for men and women faces and independent of prior fear. It is concluded that the pattern of results is consistent with the idea that ICs arise from initial expectancies that survive extinction.

Social phobia (social anxiety disorder) is the most common anxiety disorder and the third most common mental disorder in the population. If untreated, the disorder typically follows a chronic, unremitting course, leading to substantial impairments in vocational and social functioning. Despite its high prevalence and degree of interference, social phobia has only recently become the focus of clinical research. Contemporary treatment protocols for social phobia include cognitive-behavioral group therapy (CBGT), exposure therapy, and social skills training. Of these interventions, CBGT is the most validated approach (e.g., Heimberg & Becker, 1991). The efficacy of CBGT has been shown in a number of earlier studies (Gelernter et al., 1991; Hofmann, Moscovitch, Kim, & Taylor, 2004; Heimberg, Salzman, Holt, & Blendell, 1993; Heimberg et al., 1998; Hofmann, 2004) and is currently considered to be the "gold standard" psychological treatment approach for social phobia. The treatment protocol was developed based on Beck and Emery's (1985) cognitive therapy for anxiety disorders. Although well-controlled clinical trials suggest that CBGT is statistically more effective than no treatment or a placebo-control condition, a significant subset of patients fail to achieve optimal benefit from this treatment. For example, in the most recent study on the efficacy of CBGT, 133 patients with generalized social phobia were randomly assigned to phenelzine (Nardil, an MAOI commonly used to treat social phobia), educational support group therapy (ESGT), a pill placebo, or CBGT (Heimberg et al., 1998). After 12 weeks, both the phenelzine (65%) and the CBGT conditions (58%) had higher proportions of responders than the pill placebo (33%) or ESGT (27%), which served as a psychotherapy placebo condition. The criterion for treatment response was based on a 7-point rating of change on the Social Phobic Disorders Severity Change Form (Liebowitz et al., 1992). Patients rated as markedly or moderately improved were classified as responders. Using a stricter improvement criterion, Mattick and Peters (1988) had found that only 38% of individuals with social phobia who completed a treatment very similar to Heimberg's protocol achieved "high end state functioning." More recent cognitive-behavioral therapy protocols include comprehensive cognitive-behavioral therapy (CCBT), Edna Foa and colleagues, and a cognitive therapy protocol developed by David Clark and colleagues. The treatment protocol by Foa was included as a treatment condition in a recently published clinical trial (Davidson et al., 2004). The treatment protocol is derived in part from CBGT (Heimberg & Becker, 1991) and combines exposure techniques, Beckian cognitive restructuring therapy, and social skills training. It is conducted in the form of 14 weekly group sessions. The treatment differs from CBGT primarily in that it includes specific social skills training. Furthermore, the role-plays are shorter and the treatment is 2 sessions longer than CBGT. The study by Davidson and associates (2004) suggests that CCBT shows efficacy rates that are similar to CBGT. Specifically, the study randomized 295 patients with generalized social phobia to one of 5 groups: (1) fluoxetine, (2) CCBT, (3) placebo, (4) CCBT combined with fluoxetine, or (5) CCBT combined with placebo. The results showed that all active treatments were superior to placebo, and the combined treatment was not superior to the other treatments. The response rates in the intention-to-treat sample (using the Clinical Global Impressions scale) were 50.9% (fluoxetine), 51.7% (CCBT), 54.2% (CCBT/fluoxeline), 50.8% (CCBT/placebo), and 31.7% (placebo). These findings are comparable to other clinical trials using conventional cognitive-behavioral therapy and suggest that many participants remain symptomatic after standard cognitive behavioral intervention. The authors, therefore, wondered whether changes in the delivery of cognitive-behavioral therapy would improve the results. …

Background: Gifted children learn differently compared to their peers in several ways. However, their educational needs are often not met in regular schools, which may result in underachievement and social-emotional and behavioral problems. A pullout program, the "Day a Week School" (DWS), was offered to gifted children in 25 elementary schools from neighborhoods of higher and lower SES in Amsterdam. Objective: To investigate whether DWS decreases children's social-emotional and behavior problems and parents' stress, and improves children's self-concept, enjoyment at school, and academic achievement. Methods: Gifted children (grades 3-5) were selected through a standardized identification procedure assessing "out-of-the box", logical, and creative thinking and motivation (n = 89). Children, as well as both their parents and teachers, completed questionnaires before the start of DWS and after 2,5 months. Results were analyzed for all children and for at-risk children with higher levels of psychopathology before starting DWS. Results: Analyses on the total group showed small positive effects on children's self-reported self-concept dimensions, scholastic competence and behavioral conduct, as well as on fathers' reported child prosocial behavior. In the at-risk group, children reported medium positive effects on scholastic competence and behavioral conduct, and on sleep problems and worry, and small improvements on enjoyment at school. Parents of at-risk children reported decreased child's somatic complaints and decreased social-emotional and behavioral problems. Finally, teachers reported higher academic achievement and medium positive effects on inattention-hyperactivity in the at-risk group. Conclusions: Day a Week School appears to be a promising pullout program for gifted children, particularly for children at-risk for psychopathology. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York.

This prospective quasi-experiment (N = 175; mean age = 15.14 years) investigates changes in adolescents' sleep from low-stress (regular school week) to high-stress times (exam week), and examines the (moderating) role of chronic sleep reduction, baseline stress, and gender. Sleep was monitored over three consecutive weeks using actigraphy. Adolescents' sleep was more fragmented during the high-stress time than during the low-stress time, meaning that individuals slept more restless during stressful times. However, sleep efficiency, total sleep time, and sleep onset latency remained stable throughout the three consecutive weeks. High chronic sleep reduction was related to later bedtimes, later sleep start times, later sleep end times, later getting up times, and more time spent in bed. Furthermore, low chronic sleep reduction and high baseline stress levels were related to more fragmented sleep during stressful times. This study shows that stressful times can have negative effects on adolescents' sleep fragmentation, especially for adolescents with low chronic sleep reduction or high baseline stress levels.

Foreword.- Part I. Theoretical and Empirical Background.- Chapter 1. Introduction to Mindful Parenting.- Chapter 2. An Evolutionary Perspective on Parenting and Parenting Stress.- Chapter 3. Effects of the Mindful Parenting Course.- Part II. Mindful Parenting: A Guide to the 8 Week Program.- Chapter 4: Overview and Guidelines for the Mindful Parenting Program.- Chapter 5: Session 1: Automatic Parenting.- Chapter 6: Session 2: Beginner's Mind Parenting.- Chapter 7: Session 3: Reconnecting with our Body as a Parent.- Chapter 8: Session 4: Responding vs. Reacting to Parenting Stress.- Chapter 9: Session 5: Parenting Patterns and Schemas.- Chapter 10: Session 6: Conflict and Parenting.- Chapter 11: Session 7: Love and Limits.- Chapter 12: Session 8: Are We There yet? A Mindful Path Through Parenting.- Chapter 13: Follow-up Session: Each Time, Beginning Anew.- Chapter 14: Voices of the Parents: Life After the Mindful Parenting Course.

Children use signals from others to guide their behavior when confronted with potentially dangerous situations, so called social referencing. Due to evolutionary based different expertise of fathers and mothers, parents might be different social references for their children. The present study tested the influence of paternal and maternal social referencing signals on child anxiety. We expected that (1) children would show different social reference processing towards fathers’ and mothers’ signals; (2) in male-specific situations children would be more influenced by paternal signals, and in female-specific situations by maternal signals; (3) boys would respond with more anxiety to female-specific situations, and girls to male-specific situations; (4) high anxious children would be more susceptible to parental, and specifically paternal, social referencing signals than low anxious children. Children aged 8–13 read scripts of ambiguous situations in which the mother/father signaled anxious/confident behavior, and indicated how anxious they would feel. Experiment 1 (n = 129) concerned non-social situations, and Experiment 2 (n = 124) social situations. As expected, children responded with more anxiety to scripts in which their parent acted anxious than to scripts in which their parent acted confident. Children, also high-anxious children, were not differently affected by signals of fathers and mothers. Girls responded with more anxiety than boys in male-typical non-social situations. Congruence between the parent signaling and his/her evolutionary expertise did in general not affect social referencing. In conclusion, independent from parental evolutionary based expertise or from children’s level of anxiety, fathers’ signals have as much influence on their children’s anxiety as mothers’.

Item does not contain fulltext This study investigated multiple cognitive biases in children simultaneously, to investigate whether spider-fearful children display an interpretation bias, a recall bias, and source monitoring errors, and whether these biases are specific for spider-related materials. Furthermore, the independent ability of these biases to predict spider fear was investigated. A total of 121 children filled out the Spider Anxiety and Disgust Screening for Children (SADS-C), and they performed an interpretation task, a memory task, and a Behavioural Assessment Test (BAT). As expected, a specific interpretation bias was found: Spider-fearful children showed more negative interpretations of ambiguous spider-related scenarios, but not of other scenarios. We also found specific source monitoring errors: Spider-fearful children made more fear-related source monitoring errors for the spider-related scenarios, but not for the other scenarios. Only limited support was found for a recall bias. Finally, interpretation bias, recall bias, and source monitoring errors predicted unique variance components of spider fear. 11 p.

We developed a new version of the Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory (SPAI) in order to have a brief instrument for measuring social anxiety and social anxiety disorder (SAD) with a strong conceptual foundation. In the construction phase, a set of items representing 5 core aspects of social anxiety was selected by a panel of social anxiety experts. The selected item pool was validated using factor analysis, reliability analysis, and diagnostic analysis in a sample of healthy participants (N = 188) and a sample of clinically referred participants diagnosed with SAD (N = 98). This procedure resulted in an abbreviated version of the Social Phobia Subscale of the SPAI consisting of 18 items (i.e. the SPAI-18), which correlated strongly with the Social Phobia Subscale of the original SPAI (both groups r = .98). Internal consistency and diagnostic characteristics using a clinical cut-off score > 48 were good to excellent (Cronbach's alpha healthy group = .93; patient group = .91; sensitivity: .94; specificity: .88). The SPAI-18 was further validated in a community sample of parents-to-be without SAD (N = 237) and with SAD (N = 65). Internal consistency was again excellent (both groups Cronbach's alpha = .93) and a screening cut-off of >36 proved to result in good sensitivity and specificity. The SPAI-18 also correlated strongly with other social anxiety instruments, supporting convergent validity. In sum, the SPAI-18 is a psychometrically sound instrument with good screening capacity for social anxiety disorder in clinical as well as community samples.