Publications by year
In Press
Stuijfzand S, Reynolds S, Stuijfzand B, Dodd H (In Press). Anxiety Related Attention Bias in Four to Eight-Year-Olds: an Eye-Tracking Study.
Abstract:
Anxiety Related Attention Bias in Four to Eight-Year-Olds: an Eye-Tracking Study
(1) Background: There is robust evidence of an attention bias-anxiety relationship in children, but lack of appropriate methods has limited the number of studies with children younger than 8 years old. This study used eye-tracking as a measure of overt attention in young children. The aim of this study was to assess anxiety related attention bias in children aged 4 to 8 years. Age was considered as a moderator and the influence of effortful control was investigated. (2) Method: a community sample of 104 children were shown pairs of happy-neutral and angry-neutral faces. Growth curve analyses were used to examine patterns of gaze over time. (3) Results: Analyses revealed moderation by age and anxiety, with distinct patterns of anxiety-related biases seen in different age groups in the angry-neutral face trials. Effortful control did not account for age related effects. (4) Conclusions: Results support a moderation model of the development of anxiety in children.
Abstract.
2021
Dodd HF, Lester KJ (2021). Adventurous Play as a Mechanism for Reducing Risk for Childhood Anxiety: a Conceptual Model.
CLINICAL CHILD AND FAMILY PSYCHOLOGY REVIEW,
24(1), 164-181.
Author URL.
Dodd HF, Fitzgibbon L, Watson BE, Nesbit RJ (2021). Children’s play and independent mobility in 2020: Results from the british children’s play survey.
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health,
18(8).
Abstract:
Children’s play and independent mobility in 2020: Results from the british children’s play survey
The British Children’s Play Survey was conducted in April 2020 with a nationally representative sample of 1919 parents/caregivers with a child aged 5–11 years. Respondents completed a range of measures focused on children’s play, independent mobility and adult tolerance of and attitudes towards risk in play. The results show that, averaged across the year, children play for around 3 h per day, with around half of children’s play happening outdoors. Away from home, the most common places for children to play are playgrounds and green spaces. The most adventurous places for play were green spaces and indoor play centres. A significant difference was found between the age that children were reported to be allowed out alone (10.74 years; SD = 2.20 years) and the age that their parents/caregivers reported they had been allowed out alone (8.91 years; SD = 2.31 years). A range of socio-demographic factors were associated with children’s play. There was little evidence that geographical location predicted children’s play, but it was more important for independent mobility. Further, when parents/caregivers had more positive attitudes around children’s risk-taking in play, children spent more time playing and were allowed to be out of the house independently at a younger age.
Abstract.
Dodd HF, Nesbit RJ, Maratchi LR (2021). Development and evaluation of a new measure of children’s play: the Children’s Play Scale (CPS).
BMC Public Health,
21(1).
Abstract:
Development and evaluation of a new measure of children’s play: the Children’s Play Scale (CPS)
Background: There is increasing recognition of the importance of children’s play from a public health perspective, given the links between play and children’s physical and mental health. The present research aimed to develop and evaluate a new parent-report questionnaire that measures the time children spend playing across a range of places and includes a supplement to evaluate how adventurously children play. Methods: the questionnaire was developed with input from a diverse group of parents and experts in children’s play. It was designed to yield a range of metrics including time spent playing per year, time spent playing outside, time spent playing in nature and level of adventurous play. The reliability of the questionnaire was then evaluated with 245 parents (149 mothers, 96 fathers) of 154 children aged 5–11 years. All participants completed the measure at time 1. At time 2, an average of 20 days later, 184 parents (111 mothers and 73 fathers) of 99 children completed the measure again. Results: Cross-informant agreement, evaluated using Concordance Correlation Coefficients (CCCs), ranged from 0.36 to 0.51. These fall in the poor to moderate range and are largely comparable to cross-informant agreement on other measures. Test-retest reliability for mothers was good (range 0.67–0.76) for time spent playing metrics. For fathers, test-retest reliability was lower (range 0.39–0.63). For both parents the average level of adventurous play variable had relatively poor test retest reliability (mothers = 0.49, fathers = 0.42). This variable also showed a significant increase from time 1 to time 2. This instability over time may be due to the timing of the research in relation to the Covid-19 lockdown and associated shifts in risk perception. Conclusions: the measure will be of value in future research focusing on the public health benefits and correlates of children’s play as well as researchers interested in children’s outdoor play and play in nature specifically. The development of the measure in collaboration with parents and experts in children’s play is a significant strength. It will be of value for future research to further validate the measure against play diaries or activity monitors.
Abstract.
Osmanağaoğlu N, Creswell C, Dodd HF (2021). Development of a behavioural measure of Intolerance of Uncertainty in preadolescent children: Adaptation of the beads task.
Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry,
72Abstract:
Development of a behavioural measure of Intolerance of Uncertainty in preadolescent children: Adaptation of the beads task
Background and objectives: Intolerance of Uncertainty (IU) may be important for the development and maintenance of anxiety disorders but research with preadolescent children has relied entirely on questionnaire measures to assess IU. Here we aimed to develop a behavioural measure of IU that was appropriate for preadolescent children by adapting the beads task (Jacoby, Abramowitz, Buck, & Fabricant, 2014). Methods: Participants were 51 typically developing children (26 female; 7–11 years). We examined first whether preadolescent participants could understand and complete the task, then how participants responded to varying levels of uncertainty. We also conducted exploratory analyses regarding associations between task measures and questionnaire measures of IU, anxiety and worry. Results: Overall, the adapted Beads Task appears suitable for preadolescent children and is able to capture reactions to uncertainty. At least some of these reactions are related to questionnaire measures of IU and anxiety. Implications and areas for future research are discussed to provide insights into how behavioural tasks examining responses to uncertainty can improve our understanding of IU. Limitations: the sample size was relatively small. There was no control task or condition without uncertainty. Conclusions: Overall, the adapted Beads Task appears suitable for preadolescent children and is able to capture reactions to uncertainty. This type of behavioural task would be appropriate for use in future research that aims to improve our understanding of IU in children.
Abstract.
Osmanağaoğlu N, Creswell C, Snuggs S, Stuijfzand S, Dodd HF (2021). Evaluating the psychometric properties of the intolerance of uncertainty scale for children in a preadolescent sample.
Journal of Anxiety Disorders,
77Abstract:
Evaluating the psychometric properties of the intolerance of uncertainty scale for children in a preadolescent sample
Intolerance of Uncertainty (IU) is a dispositional tendency to react negatively to uncertainty. The Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale for Children (IUS-C) is designed to measure IU in children but there has been limited investigation into the psychometric properties of this scale. Using data from 227 preadolescent children and 204 parents, we examined (a) readability and whether any items were difficult to understand for children and parents, (b) factor structure, (c) test-retest reliability, and (d) the agreement between child and parent forms of the IUS-C. Results revealed that the reading age of the IUS-C may be too high for preadolescent children and that both children and parents found some items difficult to understand. Model fit with the full IUS-C was not adequate for either parent or child forms. For both forms, selecting items aligned with the IUS-12 led to adequate model fit. For both child-report and parent-report, a one-factor model was supported. Test-retest reliability of total score for all versions was high over a 2-week period (child form: ICC =.82 for 27 item and ICC =.73 for 12 items; parent form: ICC =.87 for 27 item and ICC =.86 for 12 item) but agreement between child and parent forms was consistently poor (r =.24 for 27 item and r =.29 for 12 item). Overall, the results suggest that IUS-C-12 is most appropriate for preadolescent children and their parents. The reading age remains slightly high for preadolescent children so it may be beneficial for future research to consider developing a child-report version with lower reading age.
Abstract.
Wake S, Morriss J, Johnstone T, van Reekum CM, Dodd H (2021). Intolerance of uncertainty, and not social anxiety, is associated with compromised extinction of social threat.
Behaviour Research and Therapy,
139Abstract:
Intolerance of uncertainty, and not social anxiety, is associated with compromised extinction of social threat
Extinction-resistant threat is regarded as a central hallmark of pathological anxiety. However, it remains relatively under-studied in social anxiety. Here we sought to determine whether self-reported trait social anxiety is associated with compromised threat extinction learning and retention. We tested this hypothesis within two separate, socially relevant conditioning studies. In the first experiment, a Selective Extinction Through Cognitive Evaluation (SECE) paradigm was used, which included a cognitive component during the extinction phase, while experiment 2 used a traditional threat extinction paradigm. Skin conductance responses and subjective ratings of anxiety (experiment 1 and 2) and expectancy (experiment 2) were collected across both experiments. The findings of both studies demonstrated no effect of social anxiety on extinction learning or retention. Instead, results from experiment 1 indicated that individual differences in Intolerance of Uncertainty (IU) were associated with the ability to use contextual cues to decrease a conditioned response during SECE. However, during extinction retention, high IU predicted greater generalisation across context cues. Findings of experiment 2 revealed that higher IU was associated with impaired extinction learning and retention. The results from both studies suggest that compromised threat extinction is likely to be a characteristic of high levels of IU and not social anxiety.
Abstract.
Nesbit RJ, Bagnall CL, Harvey K, Dodd HF (2021). Perceived Barriers and Facilitators of Adventurous Play in Schools: a Qualitative Systematic Review.
CHILDREN-BASEL,
8(8).
Author URL.
Wake S, van Reekum CM, Dodd H (2021). The effect of social anxiety on the acquisition and extinction of low-cost avoidance.
Behav Res Ther,
146Abstract:
The effect of social anxiety on the acquisition and extinction of low-cost avoidance.
Excessive avoidance and safety behaviours are a hallmark feature of social anxiety disorder. However, the conditioning and extinction of avoidance behaviour in social anxiety is understudied. Here, we examined the effect of individual differences in social anxiety on low-cost operant avoidance conditioning and extinction in 80 female participants. We employed an avoidance conditioning and extinction paradigm and measured skin conductance response, threat expectancy ratings and avoidance behaviour throughout the task. Findings demonstrated that elevated levels of social anxiety predicted the generalisation of conditioned avoidance responses across to safety cues during avoidance conditioning. When the opportunity to avoid was returned after the threat extinction phase, elevated social anxiety was associated with increased avoidance behaviour to threat cues. The results suggest that compromised extinction of avoidance behaviour is a characteristic of social anxiety and supports the strategy of minimising avoidance and safety behaviours during exposure therapy for the treatment of social anxiety disorder. Future research should utilise the avoidance conditioning and extinction paradigm as a laboratory model for clinical research to investigate how, and under what circumstances, the extinction of avoidance and safety behaviours can be improved for individuals high in social anxiety.
Abstract.
Author URL.
2020
Stuijfzand S, Stuijfzand B, Reynolds S, Dodd H (2020). Anxiety-Related Attention Bias in Four- to Eight-Year-Olds: an Eye-Tracking Study.
Behav Sci (Basel),
10(12).
Abstract:
Anxiety-Related Attention Bias in Four- to Eight-Year-Olds: an Eye-Tracking Study.
(1) Background: There is evidence of an attention bias-anxiety relationship in children, but lack of appropriate methods has limited the number of studies with children younger than eight years old. This study used eye tracking as a measure of overt attention in young children. The aim of this study was to assess anxiety-related attention bias in children aged four to eight years. Age was considered a moderator, and the influence of effortful control was investigated. (2) Method: a community sample of 104 children was shown pairs of happy-neutral and angry-neutral faces. Growth curve analyses were used to examine patterns of gaze over time. (3) Results: Analyses revealed moderation by age and anxiety, with distinct patterns of anxiety-related biases seen in different age groups in the angry-neutral face trials. Effortful control did not account for age-related effects. (4) Conclusions: the results support a moderation model of the development of anxiety in children.
Abstract.
Author URL.
Morriss J, Wake S, Lindner M, McSorley E, Dodd H (2020). How many times do I need to see to believe? the impact of intolerance of uncertainty and exposure experience on safety-learning and retention in young adults.
International Journal of Psychophysiology,
153, 8-17.
Abstract:
How many times do I need to see to believe? the impact of intolerance of uncertainty and exposure experience on safety-learning and retention in young adults
Individuals who score high in self-reported Intolerance of Uncertainty (IU) display difficulties updating threat associations to safe associations. Here we sought to determine whether individuals who score high in IU can learn and retain new safety associations if given more exposure. We recorded skin conductance response, pupil dilation and expectancy ratings during an associative threat learning task with acquisition, same-day extinction and next-day extinction phases. Participants (n = 144) were assigned to either a regular exposure (32 trials of same-day and next-day extinction) or extended exposure condition (48 trials of same-day and next-day extinction). We failed to replicate previous work showing that IU is associated with poorer safety-learning indexed via SCR. We found preliminary evidence for promoted safety-retention in individuals with higher Inhibitory IU in the extended exposure condition, relative to individuals with higher Inhibitory IU in the regular exposure condition, indexed via SCR. These findings further our current understanding of the role of IU in safety-learning and -retention, informing models of IU and exposure-based treatments.
Abstract.
Dodd HF, Rayson H, Ryan Z, Bishop C, Parsons S, Stuijfzand B (2020). Trajectories of Anxiety When Children Start School: the Role of Behavioral Inhibition and Attention Bias to Angry and Happy Faces.
JOURNAL OF ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY,
129(7), 701-712.
Author URL.
2019
Stuijfzand S, Chakrabarti B, Reynolds S, Dodd HF (2019). Look out captain, I hear an ambiguous alien! a study of interpretation bias and anxiety in young children.
Behaviour Research and Therapy,
121Abstract:
Look out captain, I hear an ambiguous alien! a study of interpretation bias and anxiety in young children
There is convincing evidence that anxious children and adolescents are biased to interpret ambiguity in a negative way (Stuijfzand, Creswell, Field, Pearcey, & Dodd, 2017). However, little research examines interpretation bias in children under eight years. This is due to existing measures of interpretation bias being inappropriate for young children. Consequently, we aimed to develop a new interpretation bias task for young children using tones. Children learnt to associate high tones with a ‘happy alien’ and low tones with an ‘angry alien’. They were then asked to classify tones from the middle of the frequency range (ambiguous tones) as ‘happy’ or ‘angry’. Corrugator muscle activity was recorded alongside behavioural responses. A community sample of 110 children aged 4–8 years, split into high and low anxious groups, completed the task. High anxious children were more likely to interpret the ambiguous tones as negative but this effect was small and only apparent after controlling for developmental factors. Corrugator activity aligned with behavioural responses for trained but not ambiguous tones. This is the first study to assess interpretation bias in young children using behavioural and physiological measures. Results indicate the task is developmentally appropriate and has potential utility for future research.
Abstract.
2018
Osmanağaoğlu N, Creswell C, Dodd HF (2018). Intolerance of Uncertainty, anxiety, and worry in children and adolescents: a meta-analysis.
Journal of Affective Disorders,
225, 80-90.
Abstract:
Intolerance of Uncertainty, anxiety, and worry in children and adolescents: a meta-analysis
Background Intolerance of uncertainty (IU) has been implicated in the development and maintenance of worry and anxiety in adults and there is an increasing interest in the role that IU may play in anxiety and worry in children and adolescents. Method We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to summarize existing research on IU with regard to anxiety and worry in young people, and to provide a context for considering future directions in this area of research. The systematic review yielded 31 studies that investigated the association of IU with either anxiety or worry in children and adolescents. Results the meta-analysis showed that IU accounted for 36.00% of the variance in anxiety and 39.69% in worry. Due to the low number of studies and methodological factors, examination of potential moderators was limited; and of those we were able to examine, none were significant moderators of either association. Most studies relied on questionnaire measures of IU, anxiety, and worry; all studies except one were cross-sectional and the majority of the studies were with community samples. Limitations the inclusion of eligible studies was limited to studies published in English that focus on typically developing children. Conclusions There is a strong association between IU and both anxiety and worry in young people therefore IU may be a relevant construct to target in treatment. To extend the existing literature, future research should incorporate longitudinal and experimental designs, and include samples of young people who have a range of anxiety disorders.
Abstract.
2017
Dodd HF, Vogt J, Turkileri N, Notebaert L (2017). Task relevance of emotional information affects anxiety-linked attention bias in visual search.
BIOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY,
122, 13-20.
Author URL.
Stuijfzand S, Dodd HF (2017). Young children have social worries too: Validation of a brief parent report measure of social worries in children aged 4–8 years.
Journal of Anxiety Disorders,
50, 87-93.
Abstract:
Young children have social worries too: Validation of a brief parent report measure of social worries in children aged 4–8 years
This study investigated the psychometric properties of the Social Worries Anxiety Index for Young children (SWAIY), adapted from the Social Worries Questionnaire—Parent version (SWQ-P; Spence, 1995), as a measure of social anxiety in young children. 169 parents of children aged four to eight years from a community sample completed the SWAIY and a standardized measure of anxiety; the SWAIY was completed again two weeks later. Parents deemed the items appropriate and relevant to children of this age. The SWAIY demonstrated excellent ( > 0.80) internal consistency and a one-factor model. Test-retest reliability was strong (r = 0.87) and evidence of convergent validity (r > .50) was found. The study provides initial evidence for the validation of SWAIY as a measure of social anxiety in children aged four to eight years old. This questionnaire is ideal for investigating social anxiety over early childhood and the relationship between early social worries and later anxiety disorders.
Abstract.
2016
Ooi J, Dodd HF, Stuijfzand BG, Walsh J, Broeren S (2016). Do you think I should be scared? the effect of peer discussion on children's fears.
BEHAVIOUR RESEARCH AND THERAPY,
87, 23-33.
Author URL.
2015
Dodd HF, Hudson JL, Williams T, Morris T, Lazarus RS, Byrow Y (2015). Anxiety and Attentional Bias in Preschool-Aged Children: an Eyetracking Study.
JOURNAL OF ABNORMAL CHILD PSYCHOLOGY,
43(6), 1055-1065.
Author URL.
Dodd HF, Stuijfzand S, Morris T, Hudson JL (2015). Child Anxiety and the Processing of Ambiguity.
COGNITIVE THERAPY AND RESEARCH,
39(5), 669-677.
Author URL.
