Fear of Negative Evaluation and Selective Attention to Social Threat Words in Adolescents

This study investigated the influence of fear of negative evaluation on selective attention in adolescents. 30 adolescents with high and 30 adolescents with low fear of negative evaluation were selected by multistage cluster sampling based on fear of negative evaluation scale، and computerized word dot-probe task. Statistical analysis showed attentional avoidance to social threat words in adolescents with high fear of negative evaluation. Results further indicated no selective attention in adolescents with low fear of negative evaluation. Fear of negative evaluation as an important cognitive component of social anxiety، may potentially give rise to attentional bias in adolescents. The therapeutic applications of the current findings are discussed in this report.