The influence of sex, puberty and giftedness on fear extinction in early adolescents

Introduction. Adolescence represents a period of high risk for the development anxiety problems and disorders. This is due to an impaired extinction of fear. Adolescents seem to show a less successful fear extinction, but unclear remains if sex and puberty are of influence. Additionally, it remains unclear whether gifted or typical developing adolescents are more vulnerable to an impaired fear extinction. Therefore, this study examines the question “Do sex and puberty affect fear extinction learning in gifted versus typically developing early-adolescents?”. Method. The role of sex, puberty and being a gifted or typical developing adolescent on the fundamental process of fear extinction were measured with the ‘Fear Conditioning Task: The Screaming Lady’ and the Self-Rating Scale for Pubertal Development (N = 130). The obtained data was analyzed by looking at several main- and interaction-effects with a Repeated Mixed Measures ANOVA. Results. Girls seem to better learn fear than boys....Show moreIntroduction. Adolescence represents a period of high risk for the development anxiety problems and disorders. This is due to an impaired extinction of fear. Adolescents seem to show a less successful fear extinction, but unclear remains if sex and puberty are of influence. Additionally, it remains unclear whether gifted or typical developing adolescents are more vulnerable to an impaired fear extinction. Therefore, this study examines the question “Do sex and puberty affect fear extinction learning in gifted versus typically developing early-adolescents?”. Method. The role of sex, puberty and being a gifted or typical developing adolescent on the fundamental process of fear extinction were measured with the ‘Fear Conditioning Task: The Screaming Lady’ and the Self-Rating Scale for Pubertal Development (N = 130). The obtained data was analyzed by looking at several main- and interaction-effects with a Repeated Mixed Measures ANOVA. Results. Girls seem to better learn fear than boys. Prepubertal adolescents seem to be better at extinguishing fear than pubertal participants. Gifted and typical developing adolescents showed an equal process of fear extinction. Prepubertal adolescents that follow regular education seem to better learn fear than pubertal and/or gifted adolescents. Discussion. Findings in this study contradict with findings in literature. Only the given that prepubertal adolescents seem to be better at extinguishing fear than pubertal participants can be confirmed. Further research on the complex interactions of this study should be done to make conclusions on processes of fear extinction in adolescents.Show less

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The influence of sex, puberty and giftedness on fear extinction in early adolescents