Reward Responsiveness Predicts Social Avoidance in a Sample of Socially Anxious Adolescents

• In Event: Longitudinal Examinations of Biological and Social Contextual Factors: Predictions to Adolescent Anxiety and Depression

Abstract

Normative adolescent development is characterized by heightened responsiveness to reward. However, socially anxious adolescents may be at heightened risk for blunted reward responsivity unlike their non-anxious peers. In adult samples, blunted reward responsivity (i.e. hedonic response to reward) has been shown to be a well-established risk factor for the development of anhedonia (i.e. diminished ability to experience pleasure), which is also a transdiagnostic predictor of poor treatment outcomes. Recent theoretical work has suggested that anhedonia may develop in socially anxious adolescents due to a cascade effect of blunted reward responsiveness leading to increased avoidance behaviors in social contexts, culminating in reduced motivational preference for social reward. Despite the apparent significance of anhedonia and its relevance to youth with social anxiety, work regarding the role of reward responsiveness in socially anxious adolescent samples is largely unexplored. Accordingly, the present investigation aimed to characterize the association between reward responsiveness and social anxiety symptoms across social domains. Participants included 58 adolescents (Mage = 14.33, SD = 1.27; 72% female) who enrolled in a treatment study for social anxiety disorder. We hypothesized that diminished reward responsiveness would be associated with higher overall levels of social anxiety as well as increased avoidance of social situations. The Behavioral Avoidance/Inhibition Scale (BIS/BAS) was used to evaluate reward responsiveness. Social anxiety was measured by the Social Anxiety Scale for Adolescents (SAS-A), which includes a total score and the following subscales: Fear of Negative Evaluation; Social Avoidance and Distress of New People; and Social Avoidance and Distress in General. Results revealed that lower reward responsiveness selectively predicted heightened levels of Social Avoidance and Distress in General at baseline (β = -.35, p < .01) and at 3-month follow-up (β = -.38, p < .05), but not the other social anxiety domains (all p’s > .05). This association was not better explained by age nor gender. These results suggest that reward responsivity is distinctly associated with elevated general social avoidance in socially anxious adolescents, that is not limited solely to new people. While preliminary, these findings have implications for the elucidation of anhedonia development in socially anxious adolescents, and the further identification of effective treatment approaches that target motivational systems.

Authors

• Corinne Carlton, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
  Presenting Author

• John Richey

• Thomas Ollendick, Virginia Tech