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Models of Generalized Anxiety Disorder postulate that attentional biases for threat-related information and avoidance are key maintenance factors of worry. Such models suggest that worry is primarily a verbal-linguistic, as opposed to an imagery-based process; however, findings regarding the role of imagery, worry, and attentional control (AC) have been inconsistent. The current study aimed to investigate the impact of worry and AC during mental imagery. The sample was comprised of (N = 93) college-age students who self-reported current levels of worry and AC. Participants engaged in either worry or relaxation prior to an imagery task, during which they were asked to rate valence and arousal of each image. Heart rate, heart rate variability (HRV), and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) were recorded throughout the task. Results suggest that overall, individuals reported more difficulties engaging in mental imagery following the worry manipulation. Moreover, individuals with high worry found it more difficult to engage in mental imagery, particularly after engaging in relaxation. Additionally, results revealed no differences in physiological arousal between groups. Results provide support for the avoidance function of worry such that individuals high in worry found it more difficult to engage in mental imagery. Furthermore, results may suggest that those high in worry find it more beneficial to maintain negative affect as demonstrated by findings that individuals with anxiety found it more difficult to engage in mental imagery following relaxation. This study provides important information regarding the mechanisms of worry and AC by documenting the role of avoidance and mental imagery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Attentional control has grown in importance within theoretical and predictive models of psychopathology over past decades. The Attentional Style Questionnaire (ASQ) is a novel measure of internal and external attentional control. However, no study has independently validated this questionnaire. Two studies assessed the factor structure for the ASQ within an English-speaking population (Study 1), evaluated the construct and content validity, and assessed incremental predictability (Study 2). Results of Study 1 observed two factors that could be characterised as distractibility/cognitive avoidance and focusing, whereas the original study had observed factors defined as internal and external. Results of Study 2 confirmed the factor structure of Study 1, in addition to providing evidence for the ASQ's predictability for anxiety, depression and worry behaviours above established measures of attentional control. Overall, these results indicated that the ASQ measures factors of attentional control which provides incremental utility for predicting psychopathology. Implications on psychopathology and discrepancies to previous findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adolescents who experience social anxiety tend to hold fears about negative evaluations (e.g., taunting) and may also hold fears about positive evaluations (e.g., praise from a teacher). The Brief Fear of Negative Evaluation (BFNE) scale and Fear of Positive Evaluation Scale (FPES) are 2 widely used measures of adults' evaluative concerns. Yet we know little about their psychometric properties when assessing adolescents. In a mixed clinical/community sample of 96 adolescents (66.7% female; M = 14.50 years, SD = 0.50; 63.3% African American), we examined both self‐report and parent report versions of the BFNE and FPES. Adolescents and parents also provided reports about adolescents on survey measures of social anxiety and depressive symptoms. Adolescents participated in multiple social interactions in which they self‐reported their state arousal before and during the tasks. Adolescent and parent BFNE and FPES reports distinguished adolescents who displayed elevated social anxiety from those who did not. Both informants' reports related to survey measures of adolescent social anxiety, when accounting for domains that commonly co‐occur with social anxiety (i.e., depressive symptoms). Further, both the BFNE and FPES displayed incremental validity in relation to survey measures of adolescent social anxiety, relative to each other. However, only adolescents' BFNE and FPES reports predicted adolescents' self‐reported arousal within social interactions, and only adolescents' FPES displayed incremental validity in predicting self‐reported arousal, relative to their BFNE. Adolescent and parent BFNE and FPES reports display convergent validity and in some cases incremental and criterion‐related validity. These findings have important implications for evidence‐based assessments of adolescents' evaluative concerns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During adolescence, youth increase in both independence and conflict with parents. Parents vary in how much they know about their adolescents' whereabouts and activities and how they acquire this information (i.e., the sources of what parents know). We probed how parental knowledge of adolescents' whereabouts and activities-and their information sources-relates to (a) domains of parent-adolescent conflict (fighting about, or having different beliefs about, daily life topics) and (b) parent and adolescent attachment-related behavior during a conflict discussion task. Using the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model, we tested links between parental knowledge and its sources and conflict processes. Eighty-seven adolescents ( M age = 15.18; 55% female) and parents completed surveys about parental knowledge and its sources (i.e., parental solicitation of adolescents' activities, adolescent disclosure to parents about their activities) and separate interviews on conflict domains. A subset of parent-adolescent dyads ( n = 65) interacted for 5 min about an adolescent-identified conflict topic. Different beliefs about daily life topics related to parental knowledge: parents' reports of greater different beliefs about daily life topics predicted less knowledge of adolescents' activities/whereabouts, solicitation, and disclosure, for both parent and adolescent reports of these domains. For adolescents, greater different beliefs related to less solicitation and disclosure. Only adolescent reports of parental knowledge, solicitation, and disclosure predicted attachment-related behaviors both dyad members displayed during the conflict discussion task. Findings reveal links between parental knowledge of adolescents' activities and conflict processes and demonstrate dyadic interdependence between parental knowledge of adolescents' activities and conflict processes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).