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Social interpretation inflexibility moderates emotional reactions to social situations in children and adolescents
Gadassi-Polack,R. Bronstein,M.V. Questel,M. Edelman,A. Vinogradov,S. Kober,H. Joormann,J. Everaert,J.
Gadassi-Polack,R.
Bronstein,M.V.
Questel,M.
Edelman,A.
Vinogradov,S.
Kober,H.
Joormann,J.
Everaert,J.
Abstract
Interpretation biases and inflexibility (i.e., difficulties revising interpretations) have been linked to increased internalizing symptoms. Although adolescence is a developmental period characterized by novel social situations and increased vulnerability to internalizing disorders, no studies have examined interpretation inflexibility in adolescents. Additionally, no studies (on adolescents or adults) have examined interpretation flexibility as a protective factor against adverse outcomes of interpersonal events. Using a novel task and a 28-day diary we examined relations among interpretation bias and inflexibility, internalizing symptoms, and negative interpersonal events in a sample of children and adolescents (N = 159, ages 9–18). At baseline, negative interpretation bias was positively correlated with social anxiety symptoms, and positive interpretation bias negatively correlated with social anxiety and depressive symptoms. Inflexible positive interpretations were correlated with higher social anxiety and depressive symptoms, while inflexible negative interpretations were correlated with higher social anxiety. Finally, interpretation inflexibility moderated daily associations between negative interpersonal events and depressive symptoms in daily life, such that higher inflexibility was associated with stronger associations between interpersonal events and subsequent depressive symptoms, potentially increasing depressive symptom instability. These results suggest that interpretation biases and inflexibility may act as both risk and protective factors for adolescent anxiety and depression.
Description
Funding Information: This work was supported by the National Institute of Mental Health Translational Developmental Neuroscience Training Grant (T32#MH18268), The Israeli Council for Higher Education Postdoctoral Research Fellowship for Women, and the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship (786460) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program awarded to Dr Gadassi Polack, and the National Institute of Mental Health R21 MH119552 awarded to Dr Joormann and Dr Kober. M.V. Bronstein is supported by the Wells Family Trust, which had no role in writing this manuscript or deciding to submit it for publication. Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences of the National Institutes of Health Award Number UL1-TR002494. Dr Vinogradov’s research is currently funded by NIH (P50MH119569, R01MH120589) and ONR N00014-21-1-2463. J. Everaert’s research is supported by a fellowship from the Research Foundation Flanders.
Date
2023
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Research Projects
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Keywords
children and adolescents, daily diaries, depression, interpretation flexibility, social anxiety
Citation
Gadassi-Polack, R, Bronstein, M V, Questel, M, Edelman, A, Vinogradov, S, Kober, H, Joormann, J & Everaert, J 2023, 'Social interpretation inflexibility moderates emotional reactions to social situations in children and adolescents', Development and Psychopathology. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579423000834