Studies from Macquarie University, Department of Psychology provide new data on anxiety
2007 NOV 5 -- Researchers detail in 'The effect of attentional focus on social anxiety,' new data in anxiety. "The aim of the present study was to examine the effect of attentional focus on social anxiety in a group of high and low blushing-anxious subjects. One hundred and fourteen psychology undergraduate students were screened using the Fear of Blushing subscale of the Blushing Questionnaire [Bögels, S," scientists in Australia report. "M., & Reith, W. (1999). Validity of two questionnaires to assess social fears: The Dutch social phobia and anxiety questionnaire and the blushing, trembling and sweating questionnaire. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 21, 51-66]. Those with the most extreme scores in the top and bottom 20% of the distribution were selected to form a high (n=22) and a low (n=22) blushing-anxious group. Subjects were randomly allocated to either a self-focused attention (SFA) condition or a task-focused attention (TFA) condition. They were asked to engage in a 5 min conversation with the first author, and were instructed to either self-focus (SFA condition) or task-focus (TFA condition). Levels of social anxiety and self-awareness were measured using visual analogue scales," wrote J.B. Zou and colleagues, Macquarie University, Department of Psychology. The researchers concluded: "Results suggest that the there was a significant condition by group interaction, with high blushing individuals showing considerably higher levels of social anxiety in the SFA condition compared to the TFA condition while low blushing individuals showed no significant difference across the two conditions." Zou and colleagues published their study in Behaviour Research and Therapy (The effect of attentional focus on social anxiety. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 2007;45(10):2326-33). For more information, contact J.B. Zou, Centre for Emotional Health, Dept. of Psychology, Macquarie University, NSW 2109, Australia. Publisher contact information for the journal Behaviour Research and Therapy is: Pergamon-Elsevier Science Ltd., the Boulevard, Langford Lane, Kidlington, Oxford OX5 1GB, England. Keywords: Australia, Anxiety, Behavioral Assessment, Mental Health, Psychiatry, Psychology, Psychopathology. This article was prepared by Mental Health Weekly Digest editors from staff and other reports. Copyright 2007, Mental Health Weekly Digest via NewsRx.com.
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