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Relations Between Emotional and Social Functioning in Children with Anxiety Disorders

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Abstract

The current study investigated concurrent relations between emotional and social functioning in youth with anxiety disorders using a multi-reporter (i.e., children, parents, teachers) assessment strategy. Ninety youth (M age = 8.98 years, SD = 1.68) with a primary diagnosis of generalized anxiety disorder, social phobia, and/or separation anxiety disorder, and a parent participated. Regression analyses indicated that positive affect and emotion regulation coping were related to adaptive measures of social functioning, whereas positive affect, negative affect, reluctance to share emotional experiences with peers, and lability/negativity were related to maladaptive measures of social functioning in the expected directions. For youth high in lability/negativity and low in emotion regulation coping, the relationship between diagnostic severity and social problems was exacerbated. This research contributes to our understanding of the interplay of social and emotional variables and suggests that efforts to facilitate child emotional functioning may improve social functioning for anxious youth, or vice versa.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatrics, University of South Florida, 880 6th Street South, Suite 460, Box 7523, St. Petersburg, FL, 33701, USA

    Marni L. Jacob

  2. Department of Psychology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA

    Cynthia Suveg & Monica R. Whitehead

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  1. Marni L. Jacob
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Jacob, M.L., Suveg, C. & Whitehead, M.R. Relations Between Emotional and Social Functioning in Children with Anxiety Disorders. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev 45, 519–532 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-013-0421-7

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