Self-ratings and observer-ratings of social skill: a manipulation of state social anxiety in anxious and non-anxious children

Dodd, H. F. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1446-5338, Hudson, J. L., Lyneham, H. J., Wuthrich, V. M., Morris, T. and Monier, L. (2011) Self-ratings and observer-ratings of social skill: a manipulation of state social anxiety in anxious and non-anxious children. Journal of Experimental Psychopathology, 2 (4). pp. 571-585. ISSN 2043-8087 doi: 10.5127/jep.019211

Abstract/Summary

The role of state and trait anxiety on observer ratings of social skill and negatively biased self-perception of social skill was examined. Participants were aged between 7 and 13 years (mean=9.65; sd=1.77; N=102), 47 had a current anxiety diagnosis and 55 were non-anxious controls. Participants were randomly allocated to a high or low anxiety condition and asked to complete social tasks. Task instructions were adjusted across conditions to manipulate participants’ state anxiety. Observers rated anxious participants as having poorer social skills than non-anxious controls but there was no evidence that anxious participants exhibited a negative self-perception bias, relative to controls. However, as participants’ ratings of state anxiety increased, their perception of their performance became more negatively biased. The results suggest that anxious children may exhibit real impairments in social skill and that high levels of state anxiety can lead to biased judgements of social skills in anxious and non-anxious children.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/33961
Identification Number/DOI	10.5127/jep.019211
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	No Reading authors. Back catalogue items Life Sciences > School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences > Department of Psychology Life Sciences > School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences > Psychopathology and Affective Neuroscience Life Sciences > School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences > Anxiety and Depression in Young People (AnDY)
Uncontrolled Keywords	Social anxiety; children; manipulation; cognitions; state anxiety
Publisher	Textrum
Publisher Statement	This is the author’s version of the manuscript. The final, published version is available at: http://jep.textrum.com/index.php?art_id=52#.UhR50rzpYoY
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