Social anxiety evidences significant comorbidity with alcohol use disorders and alcohol-related problems. In an effort to better understand this co-occurrence, researchers are beginning to evaluate specific drinking-related factors, including alcohol use motives, among socially anxious individuals. Drawing upon Cooper’s (1994) four-factor model of drinking motives (enhancement, social, conformity, coping), a growing body of work suggests that socially anxious individuals may consume alcohol in an effort to cope with their anxious symptoms; however, no study to date has examined these relations among youth. Accordingly, the current study examined alcohol use motives as a function of social anxiety in a community-based sample of 50 adolescents ages 12–17 years (Mage = 16.35, SD = 1.10). As predicted, heightened social anxiety was associated with elevated coping-related drinking motives. Importantly, other alcohol-use motives did not vary as a function of social anxiety. Collectively, these findings uniquely extend research conducted with adults, and suggest socially anxious youth may be motivated to use alcohol to manage their anxious arousal.

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Adolescence is a key period in terms of the development of anxiety psychopathology. An emerging literature suggests that early pubertal maturation is associated with enhanced vulnerability for anxiety symptomatology, although few studies have examined this association with regard to social anxiety. Accordingly, the current study was designed to further elucidate the relation between pubertal timing and social anxiety, with a focus on clarifying the role of gender. Participants were 138 adolescents (ages 12-17 years) recruited from the general community. Level of social anxiety was examined as a function of gender and within-sample pubertal timing. As expected, early-maturing girls evidenced significantly higher social anxiety as compared to on-time girls and early-maturing boys, and no other differences were found as a function of gender or developmental timing. Findings and future directions are discussed in terms of forwarding developmentally-sensitive models of social anxiety etiology and prevention.

This study examined the associations among perceived control over anxiety-related events, worry, and both symptoms and diagnoses of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). The sample was comprised of 140 adolescents (60 girls) between the ages of 10 and 17 years (M ( age ) = 14.6 years; SD = 2.25) recruited from the general community. Findings were consistent with hypotheses. Self-reported perceived control over anxiety-related events related negatively to worry as well as symptoms and diagnoses of GAD even after accounting for variance associated with age, gender, and negative affectivity. Results are discussed in terms of the theoretical implications that perceived control over anxiety-related events may have for understanding GAD symptomatology among youth.

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Available research indicates that worry is an important process in need of further investigation, particularly among adolescents. While a sizable body of literature has examined the nature, prevalence, and correlates of worry in both adults and youth, laboratory investigations of this variable using a real-time worry induction paradigm have been completed almost exclusively with adults. The current study aimed to extend the literature by experimentally examining the validity of a worry induction in a sample of adolescents. Fifty adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17 years were randomly assigned to either a worry or a neutral thought condition. Results provided initial support for the validity of using an ideographic worry induction procedure with adolescents, suggesting the induction produces elevated generalized negative affectivity and future-oriented mentation relative to a control group. Unexpectedly, predictions regarding the effects of the induction on verbal-linguistic thoughts were not supported. Results are discussed in terms of their convergence and divergence with the adult literature as well as relevant developmental factors to consider in future utilization of worry induction procedures in order to better understand the phenomenology and consequences of worry among youth.

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