Abstract
Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) symptoms demonstrate a marked persistence over time, but little is known empirically about short-term processes that may account for this long-term persistence. In this study, we examined how self-reported and physiological stress reactivity were associated with persistence of SAD symptoms from early to late adolescence. A community sample of 327 adolescents (56% boys, Mage = 13.01 at T1) reported their SAD symptoms for 6 successive years and participated in a public speaking task, during which self-reported (i.e., perceived nervousness and heart rate) and physiological (i.e., cortisol and heart rate) measures of stress were taken. Overall, our results point to a developmental process in which adolescents with a developmental history of higher SAD symptoms show both heightened perceived stress reactivity and heart rate reactivity, which, in turn, predict higher SAD symptoms into late adolescence.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 91-104 |
Number of pages | 14 |
Journal | Biological Psychology |
Volume | 125 |
Early online date | 6 Mar 2017 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Apr 2017 |
Funding
Data of the RADAR study were used. RADAR has been financially supported by main grants from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (GB-MAGW 480-03-005, GB-MAGW 480-08-006), Stichting Achmea Slachtoffer en Samenleving (SASS), the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research to the Consortium Individual Development (CID; 024.001.003), and various other grants from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research, the VU University Amsterdam, and Utrecht University. The authors would like to thank all schools and families for their participation.
Funders | Funder number |
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Stichting Achmea Slachtoffer en Samenleving | 024.001.003 |
Universiteit Utrecht | |
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam | |
Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek | GB-MAGW 480-03-005, GB-MAGW 480-08-006 |
Keywords
- Adolescence
- Developmental processes
- Public speaking task
- Social anxiety disorder (SAD) symptoms
- Stress reactivity