Treatment of Conduct Problems and Depression in Youth

In a recently completed project, middle school students who had symptoms of depression and conduct problems were treated. Symptoms of these disorders included irritability, argumentativeness, oppositionality, sadness, loneliness, and behavior problems. Youth and their primary caretakers received 11 sessions of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) - a therapy that is directive and action-oriented and teaches both the adolescent and his/her parents new skills to manage and cope better with depression and conduct problems.

Several members of the Child Study Center have research interests in the area of social anxiety. Some of their recent projects are listed below.

Childhood Outcomes Study

This was a follow-up study of social and emotional development in a normative sample of 9-year-old children. These children have been followed since 8 months of age with regard to temperament, cerebral activation patterns, and regulation of physiological arousal during challenging tasks. Originally assessed in Dr. Martha Ann Bell's Developmental Laboratory, we tracked the development of social anxiety problems in these youngsters.

Social Anxiety Among Socially Anxious Children in Iceland

A study was recently conducted among Icelandic schoolchildren to examine the relationship between social anxiety and beliefs about social skills, assertion, self-efficacy, and expected outcomes of familiar and unfamiliar social situations. Data were collected from parents, teachers, and children (age 10-14). Results indicated that children who had higher social anxiety had just as much self-confidence in their ability to assert themselves in situations with friends as children who were less anxious. However, they expected worse outcomes and had lower self-efficacy when interacting either with friends or strangers compared to low-anxious children. Although children who had higher social anxiety had doubts about their social skills, parents and teachers rated them as being just as skilled as non-anxious children. These issues are currently being explored in youth in America.

Internal & External Attentional Biases in Social Anxiety: The Effect of Effortful Control

A recently completed study was conducted among Virginia Tech undergraduate student volunteers to explore the attentional processes involved in social anxiety. Data were collected online and in the lab, using a modified dot-probe experimental paradigm. Results indicated equivocal evidence for a self-focused attentional bias as well as an attentional threat bias among individuals high in social anxiety. These results were not moderated by effortful control of attention.

Family Expressivity and Social Anxiety in Children: The Potential Mediating and Moderating Roles of Emotion Regulation

This is a study that was recently conducted examining the role of children's emotion regulation in relation to their family's emotional expressiveness and social anxiety in a sample of clinic-referred children. Effects of mediation or moderation were not observed. However, results indicated that family expressiveness was marginally related to social anxiety.