A Validation of an Ambiguous Social Scenario Task for Socially Anxious and Socially Callous Interpretations

Dapprich, Anna L.; Lange, Wolf‐Gero; Cima, Maaike; Becker, Eni S.

doi:10.1007/s10608-021-10283-9

Cited by 5 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…First, adolescents of the community sample that interpreted ambiguous social situations as more threatening also interpreted them as more hostile. More research found internalizing and externalizing cognitions to correlate with each other [ 46 , 57 , 60 , 61 ]. In response to another person’s ambiguous behavior, it might be healthy to engage in both self-doubt (e.g.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The assessment of threatening and hostile interpretation biases together has shown support for content-specific interpretation biases in relation to social anxiety and CU-traits, respectively. The Ambiguous Social Scenario Task (ASST) is a newly developed task that measures both threatening and hostile interpretations in response to the same situations [ 46 ]. In a clinical sample of adolescent inpatients, self-reported social anxiety was uniquely related to threatening interpretations, and CU-traits were uniquely related to hostile interpretations [ 47 ].…”

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confidence: 99%

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Specific interpretation biases as a function of social anxiety and callous-unemotional traits in a community and a clinical adolescent sample

Dapprich

Becker

Derks

et al. 2023

Child Adolesc Psychiatry Ment Health

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Background Threatening and hostile interpretation biases are seen as causal and maintaining mechanisms of childhood anxiety and aggression, respectively. However, it is unclear whether these interpretation biases are specific to distinct problems or whether they are general psychopathological phenomena. The specificity versus pervasiveness of interpretation biases could also differ depending on mental health status. Therefore, in the current study, we investigated whether social anxiety and callous-unemotional (CU) traits were uniquely related to threatening and hostile interpretation biases, respectively, in both a community and a clinical sample of adolescents. Methods A total of 161 adolescents between 10 to 15 years of age participated. The community sample consisted of 88 participants and the clinical sample consisted of 73 inpatients with a variety of psychological disorders. Social anxiety and CU-traits were assessed with self-report questionnaires. The Ambiguous Social Scenario Task was used to measure both threatening and hostile interpretations in response to written vignettes. Results Results showed that social anxiety was uniquely related to more threatening interpretations, while CU-traits were uniquely related to more hostile interpretations. These relationships were replicated for the community sample. For the clinical sample, only the link between social anxiety and threatening interpretations was significant. Explorative analyses showed that adolescents with externalizing disorders scored higher on hostile interpretations than adolescents with internalizing disorders. Conclusions Overall, these results support the content-specificity of threatening interpretation biases in social anxiety and of hostile interpretation biases in CU-traits. Better understanding the roles of interpretation biases in different psychopathologies might open avenues for tailored prevention and intervention paradigms.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Specific interpretation biases as a function of social anxiety and callous-unemotional traits in a community and a clinical adolescent sample

Dapprich

Becker

Derks

et al. 2023

Child Adolesc Psychiatry Ment Health

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…First, adolescents of the community sample that interpreted ambiguous social situations as more threatening also interpreted them as more hostile. More research found internalizing and externalizing cognitions to correlate with each other (47,58,61,62). In response to another person's ambiguous behavior, it might be a healthy to engage in both self-doubt (e.g.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The assessment of threatening and hostile interpretation biases together has shown support for content-speci c interpretation biases in relation to social anxiety and CU-traits, respectively. The Ambiguous Social Scenario Task (ASST) is a newly developed task that measures both threatening and hostile interpretations in response to the same situations (47). In a clinical sample of adolescent inpatients, self-reported social anxiety was uniquely related to threatening interpretations, and CU-traits were uniquely related to hostile interpretations (48).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Specific interpretation biases as a function of social anxiety and callous-unemotional traits in a community and a clinical adolescent sample

Dapprich¹,

Becker²,

Derks³

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Background: Threatening and hostile interpretation biases are seen as causal and maintaining mechanisms of childhood anxiety and aggression, respectively. However, it is unclear whether these interpretation biases are specific to distinct problems or whether they are general psychopathological phenomena. The specificity versus pervasiveness of interpretation biases could also differ depending on mental health status. Therefore, in the current study, we investigated whether social anxiety and callous-unemotional (CU) traits were uniquely related to threatening and hostile interpretation biases, respectively, in both a community and a clinical sample of adolescents. Methods: A total of 161 adolescents between 10 to 15 years of age participated. The community sample consisted of 88 participants and the clinical sample consisted of 73 inpatients with a variety of psychological disorders. Social anxiety and CU-traits were assessed with self-report questionnaires. The Ambiguous Social Scenario Task was used to measure both threatening and hostile interpretations in response to written vignettes. Results: Results showed that social anxiety was uniquely related to more threatening interpretations, while CU-traits were uniquely related to more hostile interpretations. These relationships were replicated for the community sample. For the clinical sample, only the link between social anxiety and threatening interpretations was significant. Explorative analyses showed that adolescents with externalizing disorders scored higher on hostile interpretations than adolescents with internalizing disorders. Conclusions: Overall, these results support the content-specificity of threatening interpretation biases in social anxiety and of hostile interpretation biases in CU-traits. Better understanding the roles of interpretation biases in different psychopathologies might open avenues for tailored prevention and intervention paradigms.

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“…In a clinical sample of children with disruptive behavior disorders, no link between CU-traits and hostile interpretation bias of ambiguous situations was found [ 35 ]. In college students, CU-traits were related to stronger hostile interpretations [ 36 ]. Surprisingly, CU-traits have also been related to more threatening interpretation bias of social situations in delinquent adolescents [ 37 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hostile and threatening interpretation biases in adolescent inpatients are specific to callous-unemotional traits and social anxiety

Dapprich

Derks

Holtmann

et al. 2023

Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry

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Psychopathological syndromes, such as disruptive behavior and anxiety disorders in adolescence, are characterized by distorted cognitions and problematic behavior. Biased interpretations of ambiguous social situations can elicit both aggressive and avoidance behavior. Yet, it is not well understood whether different interpretation biases are specific to different syndromes, or whether they can co-occur. We assessed both hostile and threatening interpretation biases in identical social situations, and proposed that they are uniquely related to callous-unemotional (CU) traits and social anxiety, respectively. We also explored the role of gender and age herein. The sample consisted of 390 inpatients between 10 and 18 years of age with a variety of psychiatric disorders. Hostile and threatening interpretations were assessed with the Ambiguous Social Scenario Task (ASST) consisting of 10 written vignettes. Both CU-traits and social anxiety were assessed with self-report questionnaires. Results showed that, overall, CU-traits were related to more hostile interpretations, whereas social anxiety was related to more threatening interpretations. In addition, in boys, hostile and threatening interpretations correlated significantly positive with each other. Age was not related to interpretation biases. Together, these results generally support the content-specificity of interpretation biases in concepts relevant to disruptive behavior disorders and anxiety disorders, and indicate that different interpretation biases can co-occur specifically in boys.

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A Validation of an Ambiguous Social Scenario Task for Socially Anxious and Socially Callous Interpretations

Cited by 5 publications

References 46 publications

Specific interpretation biases as a function of social anxiety and callous-unemotional traits in a community and a clinical adolescent sample

Specific interpretation biases as a function of social anxiety and callous-unemotional traits in a community and a clinical adolescent sample

Specific interpretation biases as a function of social anxiety and callous-unemotional traits in a community and a clinical adolescent sample

Hostile and threatening interpretation biases in adolescent inpatients are specific to callous-unemotional traits and social anxiety

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