Social anxiety as a precursor for depression: Influence of interpersonal rejection and attention to emotional stimuli. 2019

Morganne A Kraines, and Evan J White, and DeMond M Grant, and Tony T Wells
Department of Psychology, Oklahoma State University, 116 N Murray Hall, Stillwater, OK 74078, United States. Electronic address: morganne.kraines@okstate.edu.

Social anxiety disorder (SAD) and major depressive disorder (MDD) are comorbid conditions, and SAD confers risk for MDD. Biased attention and interpersonal rejection are important for the development of SAD and MDD, but little research has examined how these processes may lead to MDD. We hypothesized that interpersonal rejection would result in SAD symptoms being associated with more "depression-like" attention biases. Participants (n = 164) completed a measure of SAD symptoms and an eye tracking task before and after a task in which they were randomized to be socially included or rejected. SAD symptoms, inclusion or rejection condition, and the interaction term were entered into separate hierarchical linear regressions predicting change in attention for five emotional faces. Rejection condition significantly moderated the effects of SAD on change in attention to sad, happy, and neutral faces. SAD predicted increased attention to sad faces and decreased attention to happy faces in the rejection condition, but not in the inclusion condition. SAD predicted increased attention to neutral faces in the inclusion condition, but not in the rejection condition. There were no significant effects for angry or disgust. Results suggest that SAD symptoms are associated with more depression-like attention biases in the context of interpersonal rejection.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D008297 Male Males
D012059 Rejection, Psychology Non-acceptance, negative attitudes, hostility or excessive criticism of the individual which may precipitate feelings of rejection. Psychological Rejection,Rejection (Psychology),Psychology Rejection,Rejection, Psychological
D003865 Depressive Disorder, Major Disorder in which five (or more) of the following symptoms have been present during the same 2-week period and represent a change from previous functioning; at least one of the symptoms is either (1) depressed mood or (2) loss of interest or pleasure. Symptoms include: depressed mood most of the day, nearly every daily; markedly diminished interest or pleasure in activities most of the day, nearly every day; significant weight loss when not dieting or weight gain; Insomnia or hypersomnia nearly every day; psychomotor agitation or retardation nearly every day; fatigue or loss of energy nearly every day; feelings of worthlessness or excessive or inappropriate guilt; diminished ability to think or concentrate, or indecisiveness, nearly every day; or recurrent thoughts of death, recurrent suicidal ideation without a specific plan, or a suicide attempt. (DSM-5) Depression, Involutional,Major Depressive Disorder,Melancholia, Involutional,Paraphrenia, Involutional,Psychosis, Involutional,Depressive Disorders, Major,Involutional Depression,Involutional Melancholia,Involutional Paraphrenia,Involutional Paraphrenias,Involutional Psychoses,Involutional Psychosis,Major Depressive Disorders,Paraphrenias, Involutional,Psychoses, Involutional
D004644 Emotions Those affective states which can be experienced and have arousing and motivational properties. Feelings,Regret,Emotion,Feeling,Regrets
D005133 Eye Movements Voluntary or reflex-controlled movements of the eye. Eye Movement,Movement, Eye,Movements, Eye
D005260 Female Females
D006240 Happiness Highly pleasant emotion characterized by outward manifestations of gratification. Gladness,Joy,Happinesses
D006801 Humans Members of the species Homo sapiens. Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000066499 Facial Recognition Ability to identify an individual from their facial features. Face Emotion Perception,Face Emotion Processing,Face Emotion Recognition,Face Processing,Face Recognition,Facial Emotion Recognition,Facial Expression Recognition,Facial Identity Recognition,Face Perception,Emotion Perception, Face,Emotion Processing, Face,Emotion Recognition, Face,Emotion Recognition, Facial,Expression Recognition, Facial,Identity Recognition, Facial,Perception, Face,Perception, Face Emotion,Processing, Face,Processing, Face Emotion,Recognition, Face,Recognition, Face Emotion,Recognition, Facial,Recognition, Facial Emotion,Recognition, Facial Expression,Recognition, Facial Identity
D000070379 Attentional Bias An increased focus or awareness of certain stimuli over others, which influence behavior. Attentional Biases,Biased Attention,Attention, Biased,Bias, Attentional,Biases, Attentional

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