Understanding of the clinical manifestations of social anxiety in adult populations has increased dramatically in recent years. However, empirical data on the etiology and course of social anxiety in children is quite limited. Empirical investigation of potential pathways leading to the development of social anxiety will assist in the identification of children at risk for social phobia and may enhance efforts toward the development of early intervention or prevention programs. The primary aim of the study is the identification of differential styles of parent-child interaction associated with social anxiety, generalized anxiety, and depression. Participants will be recruited from siblings of participants in an ongoing longitudinal investigation being conducted by the principal investigator. Ninety-six children (aged 9-12) and their parents will serve as the sample for the proposed investigation. Participants will complete questionnaire symptom report measures, a diagnostic interview, and will participate in a series of laboratory tasks. The first task is actually an unstructured observation in which family members are left alone in a room for 5 minutes. Behavior will be videotaped and later coded for frequency of anxious verbalizations (e.g., comments about being observed, worry about performance). For the second task, families will discuss three hypothetical social scenarios (e.g., try-outs for the school play coming up next week)). Responses to scenarios will be coded for interpretation (threat v. no threat); proposed action of child (prosocial, avoidant, aggressive) and parents' support of child's proposed action. For the final task, children and their parents will work together to create two origami figures. Interactions will be videotaped for later coding. Coded interaction behaviors include such actions as praise, criticism, physical takeover, etc. Behaviors will be coded in 10-second intervals. Data will be analyzed primarily through a series of multiple regression procedures. Higher rates of anxious verbalizations during the unstructured observation are expected to be associated with higher levels of self-reported social anxiety. With respect to questionnaire data, parental encouragement of isolation is expected to emerge as the primary predictor of social anxiety, but not a significant predictor of general anxiety or depression. For the scenario discussion data, interpretation of threat is expected to be the primary predictor of child social anxiety, moderated by parental support. The origami interaction task data, will be analyzed with respect to whether aversive parenting strategies have any unique association with specific child symptoms or are merely associated with general negative outcome. For all analyses, potential interactions between parent- and child-gender will be explored.
