Attentional avoidance of fearful facial expressions following early life stress is associated with impaired social functioning
Attentional avoidance of fearful facial expressions following early life stress is associated with impaired social functioning
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DOI：
10.1111/jcpp.12607
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发表时间：
2016-10-01
影响因子：
7.6
通讯作者：
Gotlib, Ian H.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Humphreys, Kathryn L.;Kircanski, Katharina;Gotlib, Ian H.
背景：早期生活压力与社会功能较差有关。与早期经验和精神病理学有关的对威胁相关线索的注意力偏差可以解释这种关联。然而，到目前为止，还没有研究探讨注意力偏见恐惧的面部表情作为一个功能的早期生活的压力或检查这些偏见作为一个潜在的调解人之间的关系，早期生活的压力和社会问题。方法：在154名儿童（9-13岁）的样本中，我们检查了人际早期生活压力之间的关联（即，出生到6岁），使用点探测任务对情绪面部表情的注意力偏差，以及儿童行为检查表上的社会功能。结果如下：高水平的早期生活压力与更高水平的社会问题和注意力偏离恐惧的面部表情有关，即使在考虑了儿童后期发生的压力因素后。没有发现偏见的快乐或悲伤的面部表情作为一个功能的早期生活压力。最后，对恐惧面孔的注意力偏差介导了早期生活压力和社会问题之间的关联。结论：注意力回避恐惧的面部表情，证明了从这些刺激的偏见，可能是一个发展的反应，早期逆境和链接的经验，早期生活压力较差的社会功能。
Background: Early life stress is associated with poorer social functioning. Attentional biases in response to threat-related cues, linked to both early experience and psychopathology, may explain this association. To date, however, no study has examined attentional biases to fearful facial expressions as a function of early life stress or examined these biases as a potential mediator of the relation between early life stress and social problems. Methods: In a sample of 154 children (ages 9-13 years) we examined the associations among interpersonal early life stressors (i.e., birth through age 6 years), attentional biases to emotional facial expressions using a dot-probe task, and social functioning on the Child Behavior Checklist. Results: High levels of early life stress were associated with both greater levels of social problems and an attentional bias away from fearful facial expressions, even after accounting for stressors occurring in later childhood. No biases were found for happy or sad facial expressions as a function of early life stress. Finally, attentional biases to fearful faces mediated the association between early life stress and social problems. Conclusions: Attentional avoidance of fearful facial expressions, evidenced by a bias away from these stimuli, may be a developmental response to early adversity and link the experience of early life stress to poorer social functioning.