The interaction effect of attentional bias and attentional control on dispositional anxiety among adolescents

Research has shown that children and adolescents with attentional control deficits tend to have higher anxiety levels and exhibit threat-related selective attentional bias. This study investigates how positive and negative attentional biases interact with attentional control on dispositional anxiety. 120 participants aged 18 or younger participated in visual dot-probe tasks to measure their attentional bias and completed psychological questionnaires to measure their trait anxiety and attentional control. Results from this study demonstrate the importance of interventions to reduce negative attentional bias and increase positive attentional bias in children and adolescents-principles that form the foundation of TWF's Life Skills Programme.