Are Socially Anxious Children Poor or Advanced Mindreaders?

Nikolić, Milica; Storm, Lisa van der; Colonnesi, Cristina; Brummelman, Eddie; Kan, Kees Jan; Bögels, Susan M.

doi:10.1111/cdev.13248

Cited by 34 publications

(48 citation statements)

References 85 publications

(158 reference statements)

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“…Again, we found that blushing, indexed as the temperature increase, predicts the development of SAD symptoms at 7.5 years, even after controlling for earlier social anxiety symptoms and fearful temperament . We found the same result in children aged 8-12 (Nikolić, van der Storm, Colonnesi, Brummelman, Kan, & Bögels, 2019)-children with more SAD symptoms displayed higher increases in temperature during a performance in front of a small audience.…”

Section: Shynesssupporting

confidence: 77%

Social emotions and social cognition in the development of social anxiety disorder

Nikolić

2020

European Journal of Developmental Psychology

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Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is one of the most prevalent mental disorders with serious individual impairments and societal costs. Little is known about the mechanisms involved in SAD development. Here, I propose that dysregulated social emotions (social fear and shyness) are crucial for SAD development and that these dysregulated social emotions originate in the disturbances in sociocognitive abilities. The research from our lab confirmed this. It showed that behavioural and physiological indices of social fear contribute to the development of SAD in toddlerhood and early childhood. Later in childhood, between ages 4.5 and 7.5, we found a new risk factor for SAD-dysregulated shyness. Specifically, we found that negative shy expressions and prolonged physiological blushing (temperature increase) contribute to SAD development. Whereas elevated fear may be rooted in deficits in socio-cognitive skills, dysregulated shyness may be rooted in advanced socio-cognitive abilities. These findings imply that dysregulated social emotions play an important role in SAD and should be explicitly targeted in clinical treatments of SAD.

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Section: Shynesssupporting

confidence: 77%

Social emotions and social cognition in the development of social anxiety disorder

Nikolić

2020

European Journal of Developmental Psychology

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“…It is important to acknowledge here that the work by Nikolić and colleagues () described above also reported a positive indirect association between adolescents' ability to read others' mental states from the eye region and self‐reported social anxiety, mediated by blushing. This finding is interesting as it suggests that better ability to read others' mental states may increase children's sensitivity to self‐related social cues, which in turn may enhance social anxiety.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 60%

“…In the present study we focused on the predictive role of ToM in typically developing children's social anxiety, a topic that has been overlooked in the past years. The few empirical studies on this issue are, however, promising as they suggest that higher performance on ToM tasks is associated with lower levels of social anxiety during the preschool (Colonnesi, Nikolić, de Vente, & Bögels, ) and the primary school (Banerjee & Henderson, ; Broeren & Muris, ; Nikolić et al, ) years. More specifically, Colonnesi and colleagues () found that children's performance on ToM tasks was associated concurrently and negatively with parents' reports on their children's social anxiety symptoms at 4.5 years.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To date only two studies have focused explicitly on older children, and both provided support for a negative association between ToM and social anxiety in middle childhood. Nikolić and colleagues (), showed that the ability to read mental states from the eye region was related concurrently and negatively to self‐reported social anxiety in a sample of adolescents. Banerjee and Henderson () using a sample of 10‐ to 11‐year‐old children found that lower performance on an advanced ToM task requiring an understanding of the links among multiple mental states (e.g., intentions, emotions and beliefs) in social gaffe situations was associated with higher levels of self‐reported social anxiety.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Finally, it is important to note that previous studies (Banerjee & Henderson, ; Nikolić et al, ) adopted a cross‐sectional design, thus limiting conclusions that can be drawn about the developmental nature and directionality of the links between ToM and social anxiety in older children. As a consequence, we cannot rule out the possibility that poor ToM skills may be an outcome, rather than a predictor, of social anxiety.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Theory of mind and peer relationships: The role of social anxiety

2019

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Recent research has shown that individual differences in theory of mind (ToM) during middle childhood are linked with individual differences in children's peer relationships. The present longitudinal study investigated this association more deeply, exploring the potential mediating role played by children's social anxiety. We tested a group of 66 children (11.5 years old at Time 1) three times over one year after their transition to secondary school. Over and above language, SES and stability in individual differences, ToM performance shortly after starting secondary school (Time 1) predicted higher peer acceptance, as well as lower peer rejection, one year later (Time 3) via lower levels of social anxiety over time (Time 2). This study extends our knowledge about the links between social understanding and interpersonal relations in middle childhood. The results suggest that ToM may play an important role in children's adjustment when confronting new social contexts.

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Anxiety and theory of mind: A moderated mediation model of mindfulness and gender

Balaban

Bilici

2022

PsyCh Journal

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This study aimed to examine the relationship between gender, anxiety, mindfulness, and theory of mind (ToM). It was also aimed to investigate the mediating role of mindfulness in the relationship between anxiety and ToM. Additionally, the moderating role of gender in the relevant relationships was examined. The sample consisted of 323 people, including 260 (80.5%) females and 63 (19.5%) males, aged between 18‐62 years. Data were collected by the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test, the State‐Trait Anxiety Inventory II, and the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale. It was found that ToM and anxiety levels were statistically significantly higher in women than men. In the regression analysis, it was detected that mindfulness predicts the 7% variance in ToM. The second predictor of ToM was found as anxiety, and both predictors explained the 9% variance in ToM. In the mediating analysis, it was found that mindfulness has a mediating role in the relationship between anxiety and ToM. In the moderated mediation analysis, it was determined that the pathway between anxiety and ToM was moderated by gender; the moderating role of gender also was found between mindfulness and ToM. In light of these findings, experimental future studies can be suggested with clinical samples for a better understanding of the relationships between gender, anxiety, mindfulness, and ToM.

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Are Socially Anxious Children Poor or Advanced Mindreaders?

Cited by 34 publications

References 85 publications

Social emotions and social cognition in the development of social anxiety disorder

Social emotions and social cognition in the development of social anxiety disorder

Theory of mind and peer relationships: The role of social anxiety

Anxiety and theory of mind: A moderated mediation model of mindfulness and gender

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