Research from the information processing and temperament literatures has proposed dysfunction within systems of attention, including early attentional orientation (bottom-up) and later executive control of attention (top-down), in contribution toward the development of anxiety disorders. This study investigated the moderating role of attentional control on the relationship between threat-related attention bias and youth anxiety severity. Participants were 107 treatment-seeking youth (7-17 years, Mage = 11.17 years, SD = 3.06; 41.4% male) who met diagnostic criteria for an anxiety disorder. Multimodal assessment (behavioral, youth-, and parent-report) of attention control, threat-related attention bias, and anxiety severity was conducted. Hierarchical regression analyses provided little support for attention control as a moderator of the relationship between threat-related attention bias and anxiety severity. However, attention control was identified as a more salient predictor of anxiety severity than threat-related attention bias. Measures of attention were identified as distinct from parent-reported symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and depression for youth. Similarly, measures of attention and anxiety severity for youth were not related to parenting behavior or parental attention control but were influenced by parents’ self-reported symptoms of anxiety and depression. Implications for future research and clinical work are discussed. / Psychology

This study examined the mediating role of Maladaptive Emotion-focused coping (MEFC) on the relationship between Early Maladaptive Schemas (EMS), anxiety and depression.

Research shows that anxiety disorders are common and problematic in children. Treatment studies demonstrate that cognitive-behavioural interventions for children can successfully minimise these problems. Further, when implemented as early intervention or prevention programs, these interventions can prevent the onset of anxiety problems in 7 to 14 year olds and reduce existing levels of anxiety. This type of preventive approach has enormous potential for improving community mental health in a low cost model of service delivery. Yet, to develop this as a viable service model, these programs need to be evaluated under 'real world' conditions as opposed to specialist university clinical teams. In this research, the long-term effectiveness of an ecological model of the prevention of anxiety disorders for children was conducted. In the first study, teachers (N = 17) were trained intensively in the principles of anxiety and the FRIENDS anxiety prevention program (Barrett, Lowry-Webster & Holmes, 1999). Measures were taken of the PROXIMAL effects of training on the knowledge and self-efficacy of participating teachers at two points in time. Compared to teachers in a control group (N= 17) and a group comprised of psychologists regarded as experts in the FRIENDS anxiety program (N= 22), trained teachers demonstrated significant increases in the levels of knowledge and self-efficacy at time two. These increases approached levels exhibited by experts in terms of knowledge, and were not significantly different from experts in their levels of self-efficacy to implement the FRIENDS program following training. This study also explored the quality or fidelity of program implementation by these trained teachers (INTERMEDIATE EFFECTS). Results demonstrated that trained teachers implemented the program with high levels of integrity in accordance with the FRIENDS intervention manual. The second study sought to investigate the outcomes for participating children in terms of actually preventing and reducing existing levels of anxiety. Also of interest was the impact this intervention had on levels of depression. Participants were 594 children aged 10-13 years from 7 schools in Brisbane Australia. Children, and parents reported on children's social, emotional and behavioural characteristics at three-assessment points over 12 months. Results were examined universally (for all children) and for children who scored above the clinical cut-off for anxiety at pre-test. Results revealed that children in the FRIENDS intervention group reported fewer anxiety symptoms regardless of their risk status at posttest. In terms of reported levels of depression, only the high anxiety group who completed the FRIENDS intervention evidenced significant improvements at posttest. The results indicated that intervention gains were maintained over a period of 12 months, as measured by self-reports and diagnostic interviews. Moreover, evidence of a prevention effect was also demonstrated, with a significantly greater percentage of children in the control group progressed to "at risk" or "remained at risk" compared to children in the intervention group. Additionally, 85% of children in the intervention group who were scoring above the clinical cut-off for anxiety and depression were diagnosis free in the intervention condition at 12-month follow-up, compared to only 31.2% of children in the control group. Implications of these findings are examined, alongside limitations of the study and directions for future research.

by Au Kit Ling. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1991. / Bibliography: leaves 138-142. / Abstract / Acknowledgements / Chapter / Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 2 --- Literature Review --- p.16 / Chapter 3 --- Theoretical Perspective and Research Procedure --- p.38 / Chapter 4 --- Definition of Health Situation and Action Employed --- p.54 / Chapter 5 --- Managing the Label of Attending Psychiatric Out-patient Clinic --- p.96 / Chapter 6 --- Conclusion and Discussion --- p.118 / Bibliography --- p.138 / Appendix --- p.143

Diss. (sammanfattning) Stockholm : Karol. inst., 2006. / Härtill 4 uppsatser.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Stockholm : Karolinska institutet, 2006. / Härtill 4 uppsatser.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Stockholm : Karolinska institutet, 2010.

Anxiety disorders commonly emerge during adolescence, and girls are diagnosed with these disorders more frequently than boys. Understanding why anxiety disorders emerge and why non-clinical anxiety symptoms increase during adolescence is important for understanding this sex difference and how to treat adolescent sufferers. Potential mechanisms, such as puberty or cognitive biases, can be investigated both in humans and in rodent models of anxiety. This thesis aimed to characterise sex differences and changes in anxiety-like behaviour across adolescence and into adulthood in the rat, and to examine anxiety and interpretive bias in adolescent humans. In rats, we examined performance on common tests of anxiety-like behaviour: the emergence test, open field and elevated plus-maze. Exploration on these tests increased from mid-adolescence into adulthood, and greater exploration by females was apparent from late adolescence. While the behaviours themselves remain interesting, caution on interpreting these behaviours as anxiety-related warranted and is discussed throughout the thesis. Potential effects of the ovarian cycle and testing order on EPM performance were also examined. In humans, 12-14 year old adolescents complete visual and written interpretive bias tasks, this bias being considered to be a cognitive vulnerability for anxiety. The results showed that, when imagining themselves in ambiguous scenarios, girls were more negative in their interpretations than boys. Additionally, both sexes also interpreted social scenarios more negatively than non-social scenarios. As puberty is thought to be important to the emergence of disorder during adolescence, interpretive bias could potentially mediate the puberty-anxiety relationship. While more interpretive bias work is needed in both species, the recent development of interpretive bias tasks for rodents provides an opportunity to move away from difficult to interpret tests of anxiety-like behaviour in rodents, and should allow for greater convergence of the human and rodent anxiety research.

The affective disorders (anxiety and depression) are common psychiatric disorders that primarily involve disturbances in mood and represent the second leading source of disease burden world-wide. A wide base of evidence supports a significant genetic contribution to these disorders. Polymorphic variation in the promoter region (5-HTTLPR) of the human serotonin transporter (hSERT) gene, which leads to a life-long alteration in serotonin transporter (SERT) expression and functioning, has been implicated in the aetiology of both anxiety and depression. Despite the strong evidence implicating a role for this polymorphism in affective psychopathology the underlying mechanism by which genetically determined SERT bioavailability influences affective functioning are not understood. In these studies I attempt to elucidate the alterations in cerebral, serotonin (5-HT) system and hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis functioning which may relate to the effect of the 5-HTTLPR on affective functioning by characterising these parameters in an animal model of genetically increased SERT expression (hSERT over-expressing mice; hSERT OVR). Furthermore, as gender influences both the likelihood of developing affective disorders and the impact of the 5-HTTLPR on affective functioning, with a greater effect being observed in females than in males, we characterise these parameters in mice of both genders. The data presented in this thesis demonstrate that the life-long increase in SERT bioavailability present in hSERT OVR mice produces profound alterations in cerebral, serotonin system and HPA axis functioning. Furthermore, the influence of increased SERT expression upon cerebral and serotonin system functioning is greater in females than in males. Additionally, a number of sexually dimorphic variations in serotonin system functioning were identified. Thus this thesis extends the currently available information regarding the underlying mechanisms by which gender and a life-long alteration in SERT expression may influence the risk of affective psychopathology.

UA Open Access Publishing Fund / It is increasingly argued that social and economic inequities poorly affect overall health. One of the means through which these inequities are translated to the body is via negative emotions, which carry known psychological and physiological responses. This paper examines migration-related psychosocial stressors impacting first-generation Mexican immigrants in southern Arizona, and reports on the primary emotional experiences immigrants associate with these stressors. Data were drawn from a qualitative, ethnographic study conducted over the course of 14 months during 2013–2014 with first-generation Mexican immigrants (N = 40) residing in Tucson Arizona and service providers working directly in the immigrant community (N = 32). Results indicate that the primary structural vulnerabilities that cause emotional hardship among immigrants are pre-migration stressors and adversity, dangerous border crossings, detention and deportation, undocumented citizenship status, family separation, and extreme poverty. Many of these factors have intensified over the past decade due to increased border security and state level anti-immigrant legislation in Arizona. Immigrants connected these hardships to the emotions of trauma (50%), fear (65%), depression (75%), loneliness (75%), sadness (80%), and stress (85%), and most respondents reported suffering from three or more of these emotions. Given the heavy emotional toll of migration and the direct impact that regional legislation and border security had on well-being, this paper argues that emotion be considered an important mechanism for health declines in the immigrant community. In order to stem the frequency and intensity of emotional stress in the Mexican immigrant community in Tucson, it is imperative to support organizations and policies that promote community building and support networks and also expand access to and availability of mental health services for immigrants regardless of documentation status.