title: Cognitive bias modification as a strategy to reduce children's fears and concerns about the secondary school transition.
abstract: Cognitive Bias Modification of Interpretations (CBM-I) has emerged as an anxiety-reducing tool for children and adolescents, targeting maladaptive interpretations of everyday situations. This literature falls short of addressing whether the effects of CBM-I extend to worries about a real-life stressor, such as a school transition.
  
  
  
  The study comprised a between-groups design comparing the effects of CBM-I to an active control (AC) intervention in children.
  
  
  
  We recruited 38 children within two months of their primary-secondary school transition and investigated the capacity for multi-session, parent-administered CBM-I, compared to an AC condition, to modify cognitive style and reduce anxiety symptoms and school concerns.
  
  
  
  While benign interpretations increased significantly and negative interpretations tended to decrease following CBM-I, both interventions significantly reduced anxiety symptoms and school concerns.
  
  
  
  These findings indicate that anxiety-reducing effects of CBM-I in children extend to a real life stressful event, but that equivalent anxiety reduction may be achieved through exposure to potentially worrying situations and parent-child interaction in the absence of bias modification.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Experimental Psychology , University of Oxford , South Parks Road, OX1 3UD Oxfordshire , UK.
authors.forename: Petrina
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Cox
authors.affiliation: b King's College School, Wimbledon , SW19 4TT London , UK.
authors.forename: Gillian M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Bamford
authors.affiliation: a Department of Experimental Psychology , University of Oxford , South Parks Road, OX1 3UD Oxfordshire , UK.|c Department of Psychology , Institute of Psychiatry , Box P077, De Crespigny Park, SE58AF London , UK.
authors.forename: Jennifer Y F
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Lau
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D003071:Cognition; D015928:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D005239:Fear / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012574:Schools; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy*; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006113:United Kingdom
keywords: Cognitive bias modification; anxiety; children; parenting intervention; school transition; stressful life event