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. 2024 Feb;55(1):24-35.
doi: 10.1007/s10578-022-01383-y. Epub 2022 Jun 16.

Assessing Visual Avoidance of Faces During Real-Life Social Stress in Children with Social Anxiety Disorder: A Mobile Eye-Tracking Study

Leonie Rabea Lidle  1   2 , Julian Schmitz  3   4
Affiliations

Assessing Visual Avoidance of Faces During Real-Life Social Stress in Children with Social Anxiety Disorder: A Mobile Eye-Tracking Study

Leonie Rabea Lidle et al. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev. 2024 Feb.

Abstract

This study measured visual attention (fixation count, dwell time) during two real-life social stress tasks using mobile eye-tracking glasses in children (9-13 years) diagnosed with social anxiety disorder (SAD; n = 25) and a healthy control group (HC; n = 30). The influence of state anxiety on attention allocation and negative self-evaluation biases regarding gaze behavior were also examined. Compared to the HC group, children with SAD showed visual avoidance (i.e., fewer fixations) of the faces of interaction partners during the second social stress task. While visual avoidance in HC children decreased with declining state anxiety from the first to the second social stress task, no such effect was found in children with SAD. A negative self-evaluation bias regarding gaze behavior in children with SAD was not found. In sum, measuring visual attention during real-life social situations may help enhance our understanding of social attention in childhood SAD.

Keywords: Attentional bias; Avoidance; Children; Social anxiety disorder; Visual attention.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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