Trajectories of anxiety when children start school: the role of behavioural inhibition and attention bias to angry and happy faces

Dodd, H. F. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1446-5338, Rayson, H., Ryan, Z., Bishop, C., Parsons, S. and Stuijfzand, B. (2020) Trajectories of anxiety when children start school: the role of behavioural inhibition and attention bias to angry and happy faces. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 129 (7). pp. 701-712. ISSN 1939-1846 doi: 10.1037/abn0000623

Abstract/Summary

Extensive research has examined attention bias to threat in the context of anxiety in adults, but little is understood about this association in young children and there is a dearth of longitudinal research examining whether attention bias to threat predicts anxiety over time in childhood. In the current study, a sample of 180 children participated in a longitudinal study, first as preschoolers and again as they transitioned to formal schooling. At baseline, children aged 3-4 years completed a free-viewing eyetracking task with angry-neutral and happy-neutral face pairs and an assessment of behavioural inhibition (BI). At follow-up, parents provided daily reports of their child’s state anxiety over a 2-week period as their child started school and completed a measure of their child’s anxiety symptoms. Results indicated that, on average, preschool-aged children exhibit a bias for emotional faces that is stronger for angry than happy faces. There was little evidence that this bias was associated with anxiety symptoms. However, BI interacted with dwell bias for angry faces to predict trajectories of anxiety over the transition to school. An unexpected interaction between BI and dwell bias for happy faces was also found, with dwell for happy faces associated with lower anxiety for children higher in BI. The findings are consistent with recent developmental models of the BI-anxiety relationship and indicate that attention bias modification may not be suitable for young children, for whom attention bias to threat may be normative.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/92374
Identification Number/DOI	10.1037/abn0000623
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Life Sciences > School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences > Anxiety and Depression in Young People (AnDY) Life Sciences > School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences > Department of Psychology Life Sciences > School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences > Development
Uncontrolled Keywords	Anxiety, children, attention-bias, emotional faces, transition to school.
Publisher	American Psychological Association
Download/View statistics	View download statistics for this item