Emotional and socio-cognitive processing in young children with symptoms of anxiety

Abstract

Many children with anxiety disorders exhibit significant and persistent impairments in their social and interpersonal functioning. Two components essential for successful social interaction are empathy and theory of mind (ToM). Both constructs develop rapidly in childhood, but no study has simultaneously examined these skills in young children with emerging mental health problems, including those with symptoms of anxiety. This study investigated empathy and ToM in children with anxiety symptomatology and examined their relationship with anxiety severity. A cross-sectional study was carried out with 174 children aged 4–8 years with emerging mental health difficulties who were referred by school teachers for an assessment because of emotional, cognitive, or behavioural problems at school. Participants completed empathy and ToM tasks. Parents were interviewed and rated children’s emotional and behavioural problems. Correlational analyses indicated that elevated anxiety was associated with better cognitive ToM and worse affective empathy; there were no associations between anxiety and either cognitive empathy or affective ToM. Subsequent regression analyses demonstrated that whilst enhanced cognitive ToM was explained by age and verbal IQ, anxiety symptoms uniquely predicted impaired affective empathy. These results indicate that children with symptoms of anxiety have difficulty in sharing in other people’s emotions. As a result, they may find it difficult to behave in socially adequate ways in interactions with others that involve affective sharing. These findings encourage the use of early and targeted interventions that improve affective empathy development in children with anxiety symptoms.

Restricted and repetitive behaviors and their developmental and demographic correlates in 4–8-year-old children: A transdiagnostic approach

“…Therefore, in the current study, we predict an association between RRB and anxiety, given previous evidence, but no specific predictions are made that the RRB-anxiety association will be selective to IS. High levels of anxiety and emotion have already been reported in the current sample when different research questions have been investigated (Adegboye et al, 2021(Adegboye et al, , 2022Howe-Davies et al, 2022). However, no previous studies have explored the relation between anxiety and repetitive behavior in a sample of this kind.…”

Empathy, sympathy, and emotion regulation: A meta-analytic review.

“…Moreover, we focused on typically developing samples. A significant body of work suggests that emotion regulation and its physiological indicators, as well as empathy and sympathy, differ according to level of psychopathology (e.g., Graziano & Derefinko, 2013; Howe-Davies et al, 2022; P. A. Miller & Eisenberg, 1988; Paz et al, 2021; Shader et al, 2018; Suveg & Zeman, 2004).…”

Cope children's anxious behavior and pain with virtual reality during venipuncture procedure in emergency department

“…In contrast, school-age children and adolescents find the VR distraction technique interesting and feel its presence in the environment. This is because brain development in children of this age is characterized by increased neuroplasticity, emotional intensity, reactivity, and improved learning abilities [6]. Experiences like this provide special and fresh moments for school-age children and adolescents because they can be actively carried away by the virtual atmosphere and stimulate their curiosity.…”

“…As a result, children feel emotional, so anxiety arises as a warning signal originating Int J Public Health Sci ISSN: 2252-8806  Cope children's anxious behavior and pain with virtual reality during venipuncture … (Permaida) 1563 from the cerebral cortex affecting somatic and psychiatric conditions. In addition, anxiety can occur if the child sees a sharp object that will injure him or if the child has had an unpleasant experience from the procedure [6]. Not surprisingly, children experience changes in psychological behavior that increase before the procedure, such as panic, tension, screaming, confusion, crying, rebellion, grimacing, and anger [5], [7].…”

“…As a result of this act of inserting an intravenous catheter, children perceive the nurse as the party who injured them by 40% because the majority of nurses carry out collaborative instructions for the procedure for placing an intravenous catheter, and the nurse does not explain or contract the child regarding this action, so the child is shocked. While children fear doctors by 27% [6], [9]. Another fact that this procedure causes trauma to the child during hospitalization is the failure of the intravenous catheter procedure.…”