Child Study Center, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, USA.
Res Child Adolesc Psychopathol. 2022 Jun;50(6):781-794. doi: 10.1007/s10802-021-00884-z. Epub 2022 Jan 8.
It is well established that anxiety can contribute to social functioning difficulties during childhood and adolescence. It is less clear which anxious youth are most likely to struggle socially, and what types of difficulties they are likely to experience, limiting the extent of identification and intervention efforts. In this study, we aim to improve specification of the linkages between youth anxiety severity and social functioning by examining several potential moderators of these associations. Specifically, we examine whether family accommodation of youth anxiety, in addition to youth age, sex, and the presence of a social anxiety disorder diagnosis, influence associations between anxiety severity and social functioning among youth with anxiety disorders. Youth (N = 158, M = 9.99 years, SD = 2.74) and their mothers completed diagnostic interviews and questionnaires assessing anxiety and depression symptoms, family accommodation, and a range of social functioning variables. In a series of hierarchical linear regressions, we found that youth anxiety severity was most strongly associated with social impairment at high levels of family accommodation for adolescents and for youth without social anxiety disorder (mother-report). We also found several direct effects of anxiety severity, family accommodation, and youth age, sex, and diagnosis on different facets of youth social functioning (youth- and/or mother-report). We discuss clinical implications and future research directions focused on specifying the nature of associations between youth anxiety and their social functioning.
众所周知，焦虑会导致儿童和青少年在社交方面出现困难。目前尚不清楚哪些焦虑的年轻人在社交方面最有可能遇到困难，以及他们可能会遇到哪些类型的困难，这限制了识别和干预工作的开展。在这项研究中，我们旨在通过检查几种潜在的调节因素来更准确地描述青少年焦虑严重程度与社交功能之间的联系。具体来说，我们研究了青少年焦虑的家庭适应程度（除了青少年的年龄、性别和是否存在社交焦虑障碍诊断）是否会影响焦虑障碍青少年的焦虑严重程度与社交功能之间的关联。研究共纳入了 158 名青少年（M=9.99 岁，SD=2.74 岁）及其母亲，参与者完成了诊断访谈和问卷调查，评估了焦虑和抑郁症状、家庭适应程度以及一系列社交功能变量。在一系列分层线性回归中，我们发现，在青少年和无社交焦虑障碍的青少年（母亲报告）家庭适应程度较高的情况下，青少年的焦虑严重程度与社交障碍的相关性最强。我们还发现，焦虑严重程度、家庭适应程度以及青少年的年龄、性别和诊断对青少年社交功能的不同方面（青少年和/或母亲报告）有直接影响。我们讨论了关注青少年焦虑与其社交功能之间关联性质的临床意义和未来研究方向。
