Responses to conflict and cooperation in adolescents with anxiety and mood disorders.
This study examined patterns of behavioral and emotional responses to conflict and cooperation in adolescents with anxiety/mood disorders and healthy peers. We compared performance on and emotional responses to the Prisoner's Dilemma (PD) game, an economic exchange task involving conflict and cooperation, between adolescents with anxiety/depressive disorders (A/D) (N=21) and healthy comparisons (n = 29). Participants were deceived to believe their co-player (a pre-programmed computer algorithm) was another study participant. A/D adolescents differed significantly from comparisons in patterns of play and emotional response to the game. Specifically, A/D participants responded more cooperatively to cooperative overtures from their co-players; A/D girls also reported more anger toward co-players than did comparison girls. Our findings indicate that A/D adolescents, particularly females, respond distinctively to stressful social interchanges. These findings offer a first step toward elucidating the mechanisms underlying social impairment in youth with internalizing disorders.
McClure
Erin B
EB
Department of Psychology, Georgia State University, P.O. Box 5010, Atlanta, GA 30302-5010, USA. emcclure@gsu.edu
Parrish
Jessica M
JM
Nelson
Eric E
EE
Easter
Joshua
J
Thorne
John F
JF
Rilling
James K
JK
Ernst
Monique
M
Pine
Daniel S
DS
D000293:Adolescent; D000786:Anger; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D003220:Conflict, Psychological; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005716:Game Theory; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D010552:Personality Assessment; D011930:Reaction Time; D012919:Social Behavior