The candidate seeks to use the award period to further develop into a successful independent researcher in the anxiety disorders field; to secure funding as an independent investigator; to add to her skill set new methods of assessing cognitive contributions to psychopathology; and to contribute to the anxiety disorder literature by prospectively investigating the contributions of cognitive bias on the development of anxiety sensitivity and anxiety symptoms in at-risk adolescents. Long term, the candidate anticipates this training will help facilitate an academic career with a focus on anxiety disorder mechanisms and prevention. The research development plan will foster those goals by providing mentorship from leaders in the field, structured seminars through the Departments of Psychology, Psychiatry, Biology, and Education and The Center on Adolescence, and the opportunity to learn experientially by conducting a longitudinal investigation into cognitive vulnerabilities for anxiety. The environment has successfully fostered other junior researchers. In the research project, the candidate aims to test the contribution of cognitive biases to the development of anxiety in at-risk adolescent girls. Three hypotheses will be tested: 1) Adolescent daughters of women with histories of panic disorder will demonstrate greater threat-related cognitive vulnerabilities (i.e., attentional bias and anxiety sensitivity) than daughters of women with no psychiatric histories; 2) The relationship between maternal panic disorder and adolescent cognitive vulnerabilities will be partially mediated by maternal modeling of fear; and 3) Cognitive vulnerabilities will prospectively predict change in panic-related anxiety symptoms 2 years after initial assessment. Two hundred dyads (100 pairs with panic mother and 100 control pairs) will be assessed yearly three times. Evaluation will consist of structured diagnostic interviews, validated self-report measures, and the dot probe task. ? ? ?
| Mogg, Karin; Wilson, Kimberly A; Hayward, Chris et al. (2012) Attentional biases for threat in at-risk daughters and mothers with lifetime panic disorder. J Abnorm Psychol 121:852-62 |
