Longitudinaal onderzoek naar de invloed van gezinsinteractie factoren op een sociale fobie bij adolescenten.

Abstract

The purpose of this longitudinal study is to examine the effect of the family interaction factors, expressed emotions and family cohesion, on the development of social phobia symptoms among adolescents of the general population. The moderation effect of gender and ethnicity is investigated. A total of 454 high school HAVO and VWO students from The Netherlands participated in this study. They completed the Level of Expressed Emotion (LEE) questionnaire, the scale of Family cohesion from the Leuven Family Questionnaire and the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED). This study demonstrates that family interaction factors are no predictors for social phobia symptoms among adolescents. The level of social phobia symptoms is an indicator for the level of social phobia symptoms at a later moment. A negative relation occurs between expressed emotions and social phobia on both measurements. The development of the family interaction factors is stable over time, whereas the social phobia symptoms decline. There is no moderation effect of gender and ethnicity. Females and natives obtain a higher level of expressed emotions. Females also obtain a higher level of social phobia symptoms. Keywords: Adolescents, family interaction, expressed emotions, cohesion, social phobia, gender, ethnicity.