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dc.contributor.authorWaters, AM
dc.contributor.authorBradley, BP
dc.contributor.authorMogg, K
dc.date.accessioned2017-05-03T14:37:45Z
dc.date.available2017-05-03T14:37:45Z
dc.date.issued2014
dc.identifier.issn0033-2917
dc.identifier.doi10.1017/S0033291713000779
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10072/62375
dc.description.abstractBackground Structural models of emotional disorders propose that anxiety disorders can be classified into fear and distress disorders. Sources of evidence for this distinction come from genetic, self-report and neurophysiological data from adults. The present study examined whether this distinction relates to cognitive processes, indexed by attention bias towards threat, which is thought to cause and maintain anxiety disorders. Method Diagnostic and attention bias data were analysed from 435 children between 5 and 13 years of age; 158 had principal fear disorder (specific phobia, social phobia or separation anxiety disorder), 75 had principal distress disorder (generalized anxiety disorder, GAD) and 202 had no psychiatric disorder. Anxious children were a clinic-based treatment-seeking sample. Attention bias was assessed on a visual-probe task with angry, neutral and happy faces. Results Compared to healthy controls, children with principal distress disorder (GAD) showed a significant bias towards threat relative to neutral faces whereas children with principal fear disorder showed an attention bias away from threat relative to neutral faces. Overall, children displayed an attention bias towards happy faces, irrespective of diagnostic group. Conclusions Our findings support the distinction between fear and distress disorders, and extend empirically derived structural models of emotional disorders to threat processing in childhood, when many anxiety disorders begin and predict lifetime impairment.
dc.description.peerreviewedYes
dc.description.publicationstatusYes
dc.format.extent147757 bytes
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdf
dc.languageEnglish
dc.language.isoeng
dc.publisherCambridge University Press
dc.publisher.placeUnited Kingdom
dc.relation.ispartofstudentpublicationN
dc.relation.ispartofpagefrom607
dc.relation.ispartofpageto616
dc.relation.ispartofjournalPsychological Medicine
dc.relation.ispartofvolume44
dc.rights.retentionY
dc.subject.fieldofresearchNeurosciences
dc.subject.fieldofresearchcode3209
dc.titleBiased attention to threat in paediatric anxiety disorders (generalized anxiety disorder, social phobia, specific phobia, separation anxiety disorder) as a function of ‘distress’ versus ‘fear’ diagnostic categorization
dc.typeJournal article
dc.type.descriptionC1 - Articles
dc.type.codeC - Journal Articles
gro.facultyGriffith Health, School of Applied Psychology
gro.rights.copyright© 2014 Cambridge University Press. The attached file is reproduced here in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher. Please refer to the journal's website for access to the definitive, published version.
gro.date.issued2015-03-03T21:54:37Z
gro.hasfulltextFull Text
gro.griffith.authorWaters, Allison M.


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