Social Skills Deficits and Vocal Characteristics of Children with Social Phobia or Asperger’s Disorder: A Comparative Study

Abstract

Social skills deficits are commonly reported among children with social phobia (SP) and children with Asperger's Disorder (AD); however, a lack of direct comparison makes it unclear whether these groups, both of which endorse the presence of social anxiety, have similar or unique skills deficits. In this investigation, the social behaviors of children with SP (n=30) or AD (n=30) were compared to a typically developing (TD) peer group (n=30) during structured role play interactions. Data were analyzed using blinded observers' ratings of overt behaviors and digital vocal analysis of verbal communication. Compared to children with AD and TD children, children with SP exhibited less overall social skill, an ineffective ability to manage the conversational topic (pragmatic social behavior), and deficient speech production (speech and prosodic social behavior). There were no differences in observer ratings between children with AD and TD children. However, using digital analysis of vocal characteristics (i.e., intensity, pitch), distinct vocal patterns emerged. Specifically, children with AD spoke more softly than TD children, and had lower vocal pitch and less vocal pitch variability than children with SP. This pattern may be subjectively heard as monotonic speech. Consistent with a vocal pattern associated with heightened anxiety, children with SP spoke more softly and had less voice volume variation than TD children, and had higher vocal pitch and more vocal pitch variability (jitteriness) than children with AD. Clinical implications of these findings are discussed.

Social Skills and Social Acceptance in Children with Anxiety Disorders

“…Youth with GAD may benefit from assertiveness training and guidance in the use of questions to facilitate social conversation. Among youth with SAD, the current study supported and extended previous research documenting their social impairments (Alfano et al, 2006;Beidel et al, 1999Beidel et al, , 2007Scharfstein, Beidel, Sims, et al, 2011;Spence et al, 1999) and illustrated a pattern of overall deficits in social skill, suggesting that treatments that SOCIAL SKILLS do not include social skills as part of the intervention may not yield optimal treatment outcome (Scharfstein, Beidel, Rendon Finnell, Distler, & Carter, 2011). Social skills training programs for SAD youth should therefore be comprehensive and incorporate skills for unstructured and extended interactions with peers (e.g., spontaneous speech, exclamations, latency to speech).…”

“…Children with SAD spoke with a lower average and maximum voice volume and exhibited a restricted range of pitch compared to NC children, subjectively heard as soft speech with a lack of vocal inflection. In a previous study, children with SAD responded to social prompts with low volume and high pitch, but with high variability in their vocal pitch (i.e., jitteriness; Scharfstein, Beidel, Sims, et al, 2011). When data from both investigations are considered together, children with SAD consistently evidence anxious speech patterns not found in other groups, with some variation possibly depending on conversational demands.…”

“…They also are less likely to select assertive responses to social vignettes than NC peers (Spence et al, 1999). During analogue role plays, children with SAD are less skilled interpersonally (Beidel et al, 1999;Rao et al, 2007;Spence et al, 1999) and have longer speech latencies than NC youth (Beidel et al, 1999;Scharfstein, Beidel, Sims, & Rendon Finnel, 2011). In the latter study, children with SAD exhibit deficient speech production and difficulty managing the conversational topic relative to NC youth and youth with Asperger's disorder.…”

“…Variability in vocal volume (i.e., standard deviation of volume) is subjectively heard as voice volume variability. Digital vocal analysis is sensitive to detecting specific speech patterns among youth with SAD, Asperger's disorder, and NC youth (Scharfstein, Beidel, Sims, et al, 2011). Minimum, maximum, mean, and variability of pitch and volume were analyzed during the Wii Social Task.…”

“…In the latter study, children with SAD exhibit deficient speech production and difficulty managing the conversational topic relative to NC youth and youth with Asperger's disorder. Digital vocal analysis revealed that children with SAD speak more softly than NC peers and have higher vocal pitch and more vocal pitch variability (jitteriness) than children with Asperger's disorder (Scharfstein, Beidel, Sims, et al, 2011). Thus, youth with SAD evidence anxious speech and deficits in many of the basic social skills necessary for successful peer interactions.…”