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Table 2 Studies of biased selection of threat interpretations in anxious youth with studies presenting conflicting results to adult data italicised

From: Investigating the genetic and environmental bases of biases in threat recognition and avoidance in children with anxiety problems

Authors

Sample size and age information

Anxiety measure

Nature of anxiety effect reported

Ambiguous Scenarios

Dodd et al., [50]

Anxious group = 57 (4.0 yrs)

Clinical diagnosis

Anxious group selected more threatening interpretations

Healthy group = 74 (4.0 yrs)

(cohen’s d = 0.51)

Schneider et al., [[51]]

SAD/SP groups = 102 (8.8 yrs)

Clinical diagnosis

No group difference in selection of threat interpretations

Healthy group = 42 (9.3 yrs)

Waters et al., [52]

Anxious group = 15 (9.5 yrs)

Clinical diagnosis

Anxious group selected more threatening interpretations p 2= .35)

Healthy group = 14 (9.4 yrs)

Waters et al., [25]

Anxious group = 19 (9.8 yrs)

Clinical diagnosis

Anxious group selected more threatening interpretations p 2= .15)

Healthy group = 19 (10.1 yrs)

Hughes et al., [53]

Anxious group = 34 (9.9 yrs)

Clinical diagnosis

Anxious group selected more threatening interpretations (η2 = .09)

Healthy group = 34 (10.8 yrs)

Barrett et al., [54]

Anxious group = 152 (7–14 yrs)

Clinical diagnosis

Anxious group and clinical control group selected more threatening interpretations

Clinical control group = 27 (10.0 yrs)

Healthy group = 26 (10.2 yrs)

Creswell et al., [[55]]

Anxious group = 27 (11.0 yrs)

Clinical diagnosis,

No group difference but anxiety symptoms correlated with number of threat interpretations (η2 = .09)

Healthy group = 33 (10.8 yrs)

Anxiety Symptoms

Bögels et al., [56]

Anxious group = 15 (12.2 yrs)

Clinical diagnosis

Anxious group selected more threatening interpretations

Clinical control group = 15 (13.5 yrs)

Healthy group = 15 (11.9 yrs)

Dalgleish et al., [57]

Anxious group = 2 (14.0 yrs)

Clinical diagnosis

Anxious group selected more threatening expectations for the future, but only for other people

Depression group = 15 (15.1 yrs)

Healthy group = 43 (13.6 yrs)

Dineen et al., [58]

Whole sample = 50 (8.4 yrs)

Trait Anxiety

High levels of anxiety correlated with more threatening interpretations of intentions (when asked about other people)

Eley et al., [[59]]

Whole sample = 600 twins (8.0 yrs)

Anxiety Symptoms

High levels of anxiety correlated with threat interpretations; no significant correlation once depressive scores regressed out

Bell-Dolan, [[60]]

High Anxious group = 52 (4 th -5 th grade)

Anxiety Symptoms

No group difference in selection of threat interpretations

Low Anxious group = 38 (4 th -5 th grade)

Creswell et al., [61]

Whole sample = 65 (8–10 yrs)

Anxiety Symptoms

High levels of anxiety symptoms correlated with threat interpretations at 2 out of 3 time-points of their study

Muris et al., [62]

High Anxious group = 28 (9.6 yrs)

Social Anxiety

High anxious group selected more threatening interpretations

Low Anxious group = 224 (10.2 yrs)

Muris et al., [63]

Whole sample = 299 (9.8 yrs)

Anxiety Symptoms

High levels of anxiety correlated with more threat interpretations

Bögels et al., [64]

High Anxious group = 55 (9.9 yrs)

Anxiety Symptoms

High anxious group selected more threatening interpretations

Low Anxious group = 41 (10.0 yrs)

Muris et al., [65]

Whole sample = 157 (10.1 yrs)

Anxiety Symptoms

High levels of anxiety correlated with more threat interpretations

Muris et al., [66]

Whole sample = 76 (10.4 yrs)

Social Anxiety, Trait

High levels of anxiety correlated with more threat interpretations

Anxiety

Morren et al., [67]

Whole sample = 122 (10.5 yrs)

Anxiety Symptoms

High levels of anxiety symptoms correlated with more threat interpretations at 1 out of 2 time-points of their study

Muris et al., [68]

Whole sample = 105 (10.5 yrs)

Anxiety Symptoms

High levels of anxiety correlated with more threat interpretations

Vassilopoulos et al., [69]

Whole sample = 109 (11.3 yrs)

Social Anxiety

High levels of social anxiety correlated with more threat interpretations

Higa et al., [70]

Whole sample = 175 (11.5 yrs)

Social Anxiety

High levels of social anxiety predicted more threatening interpretations (β = 0.49, cohen’s d = 1.06)

Miers et al., [71]

High Anxious group = 37 (13.7 yrs)

Social Anxiety

High anxious group selected more negative interpretations p 2= .31.)

Low Anxious group = 36 (13.6 yrs)

Salemink etal., [72]

Whole sample = 170 (14.5 yrs)

State Anxiety, Trait Anxiety

High levels of state and trait anxiety correlated with more threat interpretations

Ambiguous Words

Taghavi et al., [73]

GAD group = 17 (13.7 yrs)

Clinical diagnosis

Anxious group selected more threatening interpretations of homographs (cohen’s d = 0.84)

Healthy group = 40 (13.3 yrs)

Hadwin et al., [74]

Whole sample = 40 (8.5 yrs)

Trait Anxiety

High levels of trait anxiety predicted more threatening interpretations of homophones

Eley et al., [[59]]

Whole sample = 300 twin pairs (8.0 yrs)

Anxiety Symptoms

No significant correlation between anxiety symptoms and selection of threatening interpretations of homophones once depressive symptoms were regressed out

Face emotion recognition and ratings

Simonian et al., [75]

SP group = 15 (12.2 yrs)

Clinical diagnosis

Anxious group made more errors recognizing happy, sad and disgust faces (cohen’s d = −1.55)

Healthy group = 14 (11.0 yrs)

McClure et al., [[76]]

Anxious group = 10 (12.9 yrs)

Clinical diagnosis

No group difference in fearful ratings of negative faces

Healthy group = 25 (13.5 yrs)

Beesdo et al., [[77]]

Anxious group = 16 (12.8 yrs)

Clinical diagnosis

No group difference in fearful ratings of negative faces

Healthy group = 45 (13.9 yrs)

Easter et al., [78]

Anxious group = 15 (13.1 yrs)

Clinical diagnosis

Anxious group made more errors recognizing happy, sad, angry, and fearful faces of adults, but not of children

Healthy group = 11 (12.5 yrs)

Richards et al., [45]

High Anxious group = 24 (11.9 yrs)

Trait Anxiety

High anxious group labelled positive faces significantly more often as angry

 

Low Anxious group = 26 (11.0 yrs)

  
  1. GAD Generalized anxiety disorder, PTSD Post-traumatic stress disorder, SAD Separation anxiety disorder, SP social phobia, ADHD Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, MDD Major Depressive Disorder, SCR skin conductance responses.