Anxiety

Question 1

Why should anxiety be studied?

Answer 1

Very common, 1 in 14
Start early - age 11
Chronic - persistent, life impact, risk for other disorders

Question 2

What do abnormal fears predict?

Answer 2

Anxiety 23%

Childhood phobias and anxiety reflect fear and anxiety

Question 3

What is social anxiety?

Answer 3

Early onset
Persistent
Expressed as failing to speak, tantrums, freezing
12 month prevalent estimate vary between .32 and 7%

Question 4

Are there genetic factors?

Answer 4

Anxiety runs in families, children of parents are at an increased risk - hard to know if it is genes or the environment
30% heritable, depending on the population
Findings show anxiety is a complex polygenic trait

Question 5

Are there environment factors?

Answer 5

Contribution is poorly understood, work has shown strong support for direct environmental transition - more than genes
non shared environment may play a role

Question 6

What environmental factors contribute to anxiety?

Answer 6

Parenting and family - attachment, parenting styles, having a parent with a disorder, divorce
Peer factors - peer relationships, victimisations, negative social experience, bullying
Experiencing adverse life events, trauma
Cultural factors

Question 7

Etilogical model of anxiety

Answer 7

Anxiety emerges early across development, it exists on a continuum of severity - diagnosis requires symptoms which interfere with daily life. Where they sit depends on age, gender and culture

Question 8

Etilogical model - risk and protective factors

Answer 8

genes/biology - temperament
cognitive - nutrition
behavioural factors - avoiding eye contact
parental, trauma, culture

These all interact that raises risk of SAD

Question 9

Assumptions of the etiological model

Answer 9

Risk factors increase in a complex way, some increasing risk and some decreasing
Individual differences are underpinned by:
Equinfinality - different pathways and combinations cause it
Multifinality - any risk factor can result in different outcomes, not just SAD
Reciprocal - experience of SAD influences probability of experiencing a risk factor, which increases risk of SAD

Question 10

Parenting

Answer 10

Parenting interacts in complex ways
Bidirectional effects - not just one way
Parents predict a small, but significant effect of anxiety (over controlling and overprotective is the worst)
Mum and dads have different roles, challenging by father is important for social anxiety disorder

Question 11

How does the social context create anxiety?

Answer 11

giving a talk
answering questions
musical/athlete performance
writing on a board
being with peers
speaking to a teacher
romantic relationships

Question 12

What negative outcomes are associated with social anxiety?

Answer 12

Excessive teasing
Criticism
Bullying and victimisation
Rejection
Ridicule
Humiliation
Exclusion by others

Question 13

What do conditioning theories believe about social anxiety?

Answer 13

Social anxious behaviour is seen as negative by peers and thus becomes paired with aversive social outcomes such as teasing and exclusion, which enhances fear and avoidance

Question 14

What are socially anxious children?

Answer 14

they have fewer friends
low quality relationships
less well liked and accepted
more negative peer interactions
more likely to be rejected, neglected or victimised
less socially skilled

Question 15

Why do socially anxious people experience aversive social outcomes?

Answer 15

Perform less well on social tasks when judged, appear more nervous
unclear whether there are actual deficits in performance due to lack of skills or whether poorer performance is a consequence of anxiety interfering with ability to perform social tasks
deficits lead to a vicious cycle - poor performance = peers respond less positive = negative outcomes = avoiding social interactions

Question 16

Blote, miers and westerberg - social anxiety on the way children are judged

Answer 16

Examined impact of social anxiety and social performance on way children are judged, pre recorded 20 high and 20 low socially anxious giving a 5 min speech about movies, told they would be evaluated. Speech evaluated on peer rejection attractiveness and performance

Results: highly anxious more rejected and rated as less attractive, have less social skills
moderate positive correlation between high social anxiety and high rejection
higher rejection was mediated by poor social performance

Question 17

Peer influences

Answer 17

Socially anxious children are at most risk of experiencing peer victimisation and bullying, which is a cause of SAD
SA not just a consequence of victimisation, may increase chances of being victimised

Question 18

What are the two types of victimisation?

Answer 18

Direct/overt - physical bullying and aggression

Relational - harms social standing and reputation, uses methods such as withdrawal, spreading gossip

Question 19

Storch et al - victimisation

Answer 19

Investigated victimisation, social avoidance, distress and clinical symptoms
No significant associations between these measures and avoidance and distress
Relational victimisation predicted increased social phobia symptoms one year later

Question 20

Limitations of Storch et al

Answer 20

Sample: western, white middle class, unequal distribution of males and females
Methods: all self report
Only assessed social anxiety, could’ve been other problems
Didn’t assess moderators, e.g. relationship between victimisation and social anxiety may be influenced by having a close friends, or parent giving support

Question 21

Research on the association between victimisation and anxiety has produced mixed effects:

Answer 21

Peer victimisation increases anxiety
Overt predicted increases
Overt predicted increased risk of social phobia at age 17
Peer victimisation predicts future internalising problems

Question 22

Trauma and life events

Answer 22

Exposure to a range of stressful and adverse life events during childhood may increase risk
Rates of social anxiety are twice as likely in a trauma exposed group
they are risk factors for a range of psychiatric disorders
very few studies have looked at moderates and mediators, we don’t understand why some people experience anxiety and some don’t

Question 23

Gren-landell et al - experience of life events

Answer 23

3000 adolescence, gave them assessment of SAD and measured experience of life events - crime, abuse and victimisation
SAD was highly prevalent and more common in females
More victimisation = more anxiety
A learning history of being badly treated by adults might shape a pattern of viewing the world as a dangerous place to be and contributes to heightened experiences of anxiety

Critical evaluation: only cross sectional, can’t unpick causality, did life event cause symptoms does victimisation cause social anxiety or does anxiety caused event?
Limited types of aversive event investigated
self report- memory bias
sample is specific and limited

Question 24

What does social anxiety serve?

Answer 24

Evolutionary purpose - minimise group conflict through appeasement and sacrifice of status

Question 25

Cultural impacts of social anxiety

Answer 25

Effects how it is expressed
Thresholds for clinical diagnosis and prevalence
Social reactions to socially anxious behaviour

Question 26

Expression of anxiety between cultures

Answer 26

Behavioural manifestations of SAD in UK and Japan are similar but underlying fear is different

UK - predominant fear is negative evaluation (individualist culture)
Japan - causing offence of harm to others due to actions or appearance (collectivist)

Collectivist cultures emphasise needs and goals of the groups as a whole over the needs of each individual - relationships with other members play a role

Question 27

Prevalence differences in cultures

Answer 27

Very low prevalence in East Asian countries vs high prevalence in western world
may be because East Asian countries view symptoms of SAD in a positive light so impact on daily functioning is likely to be less
western cultures view symptoms as negative, impact on functioning will be higher

Question 28

Impact on anxiety

Answer 28

Rapee et al recruited students from western and East Asian cultures, read and rated hypothetical vignettes describing characters showing shy vs outgoing behaviours. Each ppt rated impact of behaviours on social likability and impact on job

Likeability - outgoing rated higher than shy
Effect moderated by culture - shy not rated differently across cultures but outgoing rated more likeable by western cultures
Career impact - shy characters have weaker career prospects
Effect moderated by culture - western participants rated prospects of shy characters as significantly poorer than East Asians and career options of outgoing as significantly better