Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is a prevalent disorder in adolescents. It manifests itself in avoidance of social situations, difficulties forming relationships and an overall increased impairment...Show moreSocial anxiety disorder (SAD) is a prevalent disorder in adolescents. It manifests itself in avoidance of social situations, difficulties forming relationships and an overall increased impairment in social functioning. In adulthood, individuals with SAD report an overall poorer quality of life. Intolerance of uncertainty (IU) and coping strategies have been associated with SAD in recent literature. However, information on this subject is scarce in adolescents. This study investigates the relationship between IU and traits of social anxiety (SA) in adolescents, incorporating age as a moderating variable and adaptive and maladaptive coping strategies as a mediating variable. Data on SA traits, IU and coping strategies was collected within a larger study from a non-clinical sample using questionnaires. This study included 233 participants (Mage = 18.6, SD = 3.3) of which 81% were female. Results of this study show a positive relationship between IU and SA traits. This positive relationship weakens with age during adolescence. Additionally, maladaptive coping strategies mediate the relationship between SA and IU, strengthening this relationship. These findings indicate IU, age and coping are important factors to be considered in relation to the development and maintenance of SAD. Future research should continue on this subject to provide additional practical implications for the prevention and treatment of SADShow less
Currently, the world is facing a global anxiety crisis, making it important to understand the neuropsychological processes contributing to maintaining such cognitive biases. Understanding the...Show moreCurrently, the world is facing a global anxiety crisis, making it important to understand the neuropsychological processes contributing to maintaining such cognitive biases. Understanding the factors that influence negative biases about the self is critical to intervene and prevent clinical effects. In this study we examine how Intolerance of Uncertainty (IU) contributes to the emergence of a negative cognitive bias. We examine the neural correlates of this bias by examining the Feedback-Related Negativity (FRN). In addition, learning about the self will be assessed through a computational model of affective updating of self-feelings after receiving performance feedback. The objective was to examine the effect of IU on the valence of FRN as well as affective updating. Ninety-eight participants (mean age = 20, 14 males), participated on two testing days in a self-performance task. Results failed to show that IU predicts FRN valence. Second, it could not be demonstrated that IU is more strongly associated with negative affective updating compared with positive affective updating. In addition, the subscales did not provide the expected finding that the relationship between the cognitive dimension of IU and the behavioral dimension of IU predicted negative affective updating more strongly than positive affective updating. A key message may be that further research and methodological changes are needed to make more detailed statements and predictions about the relationship between IU and FRN and affective updating. This would be important for drawing substantive conclusions about how IU maintains a negative cognitive bias toward the self and how potential interventions might be applied.Show less