This investigation explored the association between anxiety sensitivity and attentional bias for threatening information in children and adolescents (N = 40). Participants completed a pictorial version of the visual-probe task, featuring pain-related, health-threat and general-threat images presented for 500 and 1250 ms. Regression analyses revealed significant associations between anxiety sensitivity and attentional bias towards pain-related images presented for 500 ms and between state anxiety and attentional bias towards general-threat images presented for 1250 ms. These results suggest that in children and adolescents, anxiety sensitivity is associated with attentional bias for negative information of personal relevance.
AlkozeiACooperPJCreswellC (2014) Emotional reasoning and anxiety sensitivity: Associations with social anxiety disorder in childhood. Journal of Affective Disorders152–154: 219–228.
2.
AllgaierAKFrüheBPietschK. (2012) Is the Children’s Depression Inventory Short version a valid screening tool in pediatric care? A comparison to its full-length version. Journal of Psychosomatic Research73(5): 369–374.
3.
AllportA (1989) Visual attention. In: PosnerMI (ed.) Foundations of Cognitive Science. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, pp. 631–682.
4.
AltmanDGRoystonP (2006) The cost of dichotomising continuous variables. British Medical Journal332(7549): 1080.
5.
Bar-HaimY (2010) Research review: Attention bias modification (ABM): A novel treatment for anxiety disorders. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry51(8): 859–870.
6.
Bar-HaimYLamyDPergaminL. (2007) Threat-related attentional bias in anxious and nonanxious individuals: A meta-analytic study. Psychological Bulletin133(1): 1–24.
7.
BradleyBPMoggKMillerNH (2000) Covert and overt orientating of attention to emotional faces in anxiety. Cognition & Emotion14: 789–808.
8.
BroschTSharmaD (2005) The role of fear-relevant stimuli in visual search: A comparison of phylogenetic and ontogenetic stimuli. Emotion5(3): 360–364.
9.
DonaldsonCLamDMathewsA (2007) Rumination and attention in major depression. Behaviour Research and Therapy45(11): 2664–2678.
10.
EcclestonCCrombezG (2007) Worry and chronic pain: A misdirected problem solving model. Pain132(3): 233–236.
11.
ErdfelderEFaulFBuchnerA (1996) GPOWER: A general power analysis program. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers28(1): 1–11.
12.
EssauCASasagawaSOllendickTH (2010) The facets of anxiety sensitivity in adolescents. Journal of Anxiety Disorders24(1): 23–29.
13.
EsteveRMarquina-AponteVRamírez-MaestreC (2014) Postoperative pain in children: Association between anxiety sensitivity, pain catastrophizing, and female caregivers’ responses to children’s pain. The Journal of Pain15(2): 157–168.
14.
EysenckMW (1997) Anxiety and Cognition: A Unified Theory. Hove: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
15.
GarberJWeersingVR (2010) Comorbidity of anxiety and depression in youth: Implications for treatment and prevention. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice17(4): 293–306.
16.
GibbBEBenasJSGrassiaM. (2009) Children’s attentional biases and 5-HTTLPR genotype: Potential mechanisms linking mother and child depression. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology38(3): 415–426.
17.
HaywardCKillenJDKraemerHC. (2000) Predictors of panic attacks in adolescents. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry39(2): 207–214.
18.
Heim-DregerUKohlmannCWEschenbeckH. (2006) Attentional biases for threatening faces in children: Vigilant and avoidant processes. Emotion6(2): 320–325.
19.
HuntCKeoghEFrenchCC (2006) Anxiety sensitivity: The role of conscious awareness and selective attentional bias to physical threat. Emotion6(3): 418–428.
20.
HuntCKeoghEFrenchCC (2007) Anxiety sensitivity, conscious awareness and selective attentional biases in children. Behaviour Research and Therapy45(3): 497–509.
21.
Johnson HarrisonAGibbBE (2014) Attentional biases in currently depressed children: An eye-tracking study of biases in sustained attention to emotional stimuli. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology. Epub ahead of print 10July. DOI: 10.1080/15374416.2014.930688.
22.
KensingerEASchacterDL (2006) Processing emotional pictures and words: Effects of valence and arousal. Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience6(2): 110–126.
23.
KeoghECochraneM (2002) Anxiety sensitivity, cognitive biases, and the experience of pain. The Journal of Pain3(4): 320–329.
24.
KeoghEDillonCGeorgiouG. (2001) Selective attentional biases for physical threat in physical anxiety sensitivity. Journal of Anxiety Disorders15(4): 299–315.
25.
KılıçEZKılıçCYılmazS (2008) Is anxiety sensitivity a predictor of PTSD in children and adolescents?Journal of Psychosomatic Research65(1): 81–86.
LangPJ (1980) Behavioral treatment and bio-behavioral assessment: Computer applications. In: SidowskiJBJohnsonJHWilliamsEA (eds) Technology in Mental Health Care Delivery Systems. Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing, pp. 119–137.
28.
LauJYEleyTCStevensonJ (2006) Examining the state–trait anxiety relationship: A behavioural genetic approach. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology34(1): 18–26.
29.
LeesAMoggKBradleyBP (2005) Health anxiety, anxiety sensitivity, and attentional biases for pictorial stimuli and linguistic health threat cues. Cognitive Emotion19(3): 453–462.
30.
LipsitzJDMasia-WarnerCApfelH. (2004) Anxiety and depressive symptoms and anxiety sensitivity in youngsters with noncardiac chest pain and benign heart murmurs. Journal of Pediatric Psychology29(8): 607–612.
31.
LoBueV (2010) What’s so scary about needles and knives? Examining the role of experience in threat detection. Cognition & Emotion24(1): 180–187.
32.
McLaughlinENStewartSHTaylorS (2007) Childhood anxiety sensitivity index factors predict unique variance in DSM-IV anxiety disorder symptoms. Cognitive Behaviour Therapy36(4): 210–219.
33.
McManisMHBradleyMMBergWK. (2001) Emotional reactions in children: Verbal, physiological, and behavioral responses to affective pictures. Psychophysiology38(2): 222–231.
34.
MahrerNEMontañoZGoldJI (2012) Relations between anxiety sensitivity, somatization, and health-related quality of life in children with chronic pain. Journal of Pediatric Psychology37(7): 808–816.
35.
MartinALMcGrathPABrownSC. (2007) Anxiety sensitivity, fear of pain and pain-related disability in children and adolescents with chronic pain. Pain Research and Management12(4): 267–272.
36.
MoggKBradleyBP (1998) A cognitive-motivational analysis of anxiety. Behaviour Research and Therapy36(9): 809–848.
37.
MurisPSchmidtHMerckelbachH. (2001a) Anxiety sensitivity in adolescents: Factor structure and relationships to trait anxiety and symptoms of anxiety disorders and depression. Behaviour Research and Therapy39(1): 89–100.
38.
MurisPVlaeyenJMeestersC (2001b) The relationship between anxiety sensitivity and fear of pain in healthy adolescents. Behaviour Research and Therapy39(11): 1357–1368.
39.
PuliaficoACKendallPC (2006) Threat-related attentional bias in anxious youth: A review. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review9(3–4): 162–180.
40.
RabianBEmbryLMacIntyreD (1999) Behavioral validation of the Childhood Anxiety Sensitivity Index in children. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology28(1): 105–112.
41.
ReissSMcNallyRJ (1985) Expectancy model of fear. In: ReissSBootzinRR (eds) Theoretical Issues in Behavior Therapy. San Diego, CA: Academic Press, pp. 107–121.
42.
SchmidtNBKeoughMEMitchellMA. (2010) Anxiety sensitivity: Prospective prediction of anxiety among early adolescents. Journal of Anxiety Disorders24(5): 503–508.
43.
SchothDELiossiC (2013) Specificity and time-course of attentional bias in chronic headache: A visual-probe investigation. The Clinical Journal of Pain29(7): 583–590.
44.
SchothDEDelgado NunesVLiossiC (2012) Attentional bias towards pain-related information in chronic pain; a meta-analysis of visual-probe investigations. Clinical Psychology Review32(1): 13–25.
45.
SegalZVGemarM (1997) Changes in cognitive organisation for negative self referent material following cognitive behaviour therapy for depression: A primed Stroop study. Cognition & Emotion11(5–6): 501–516.
46.
SilvermanWKFleisigWRabianB. (1991) Childhood anxiety sensitivity index. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology20(2): 162–168.
47.
SimonDCraigKDGosselinF. (2008) Recognition and discrimination of prototypical dynamic expressions of pain and emotions. Pain135(1–2): 55–64.
48.
SmithML (2012) Rapid processing of emotional expressions without conscious awareness. Cerebral Cortex22(8): 1748–1760.
49.
SpielbergerCD (1973) Manual for the State–Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children. Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press.
50.
TsaoJCAllenLBEvansS. (2009) Anxiety sensitivity and catastrophizing associations with pain and somatization in non-clinical children. Journal of Health Psychology14(8): 1085–1094.
51.
WaszczukMAZavosHMSEleyTC (2013) Genetic and environmental influences on relationship between anxiety sensitivity and anxiety subscales in children. Journal of Anxiety Disorders27: 475–484.
52.
WatersAMHenryJMoggK. (2010) Attentional bias towards angry faces in childhood anxiety disorders. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry41(2): 158–164.
53.
WatersAMLippOVSpenceSH (2004) Attentional bias toward fear-related stimuli: An investigation with nonselected children and adults and children with anxiety disorders. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology89(4): 320–337.
54.
WilliamsACDC (2002) Facial expression of pain: An evolutionary account. Behavioral and Brain Sciences25(4): 439–455.
55.
ZvolenskyMJForsythJP (2002) Anxiety sensitivity dimensions in the prediction of body vigilance and emotional avoidance. Cognitive Therapy and Research26: 449–460.
