caa a22 4500 606238956 CHVBK 20210128101300.0 cr unu---uuuuu 210128e20151201xx s 000 0 eng 10.1007/s10862-015-9488-8 doi (NATIONALLICENCE)springer-10.1007/s10862-015-9488-8 Allelic Variation of Risk for Anxiety Symptoms Moderates the Relation Between Adolescent Safety Behaviors and Social Anxiety Symptoms [Elektronische Daten] [Sarah Thomas, Justin Weeks, Lea Dougherty, Melanie Lipton, Samantha Daruwala, Kathryn Kline, Andres De Los Reyes] Social anxiety often develops in adolescence, and precedes the onset of depression and substance use disorders. The link between social anxiety and use of behaviors to minimize distress in social situations (i.e., safety behaviors) is strong and for some patients, this link poses difficulty for engaging in, and benefiting from, exposure-based treatment. Yet, little is known about whether individual differences may moderate links between social anxiety and safety behaviors, namely variations in genetic alleles germane to anxiety. We examined the relation between adolescent social anxiety and expressions of safety behaviors, and whether allelic variation for anxiety moderates this relation. Adolescents (n = 75; ages 14-17) were recruited from two larger studies investigating measurement of family relationships or adolescent social anxiety. Adolescents completed self-report measures about social anxiety symptoms and use of safety behaviors. They also provided saliva samples to assess allelic variations for anxiety from two genetic polymorphisms (BDNF rs6265; TAQ1A rs1800497). Controlling for adolescent age and gender, we observed a significant interaction between social anxiety symptoms and allelic variation (β = 0.37, t = 2.41, p = .02). Specifically, adolescents carrying allelic variations for anxiety evidenced a statistically significant and relatively strong positive relation between social anxiety symptoms and safety behaviors (β = 0.73), whereas adolescents not carrying allelic variation evidenced a statistically non-significant and relatively weak relation (β = 0.22). These findings have important implications for treating adolescent social anxiety, in that we identified an individual difference variable that can be used to identify people who evidence a particularly strong link between use of safety behaviors and expressing social anxiety. Springer Science+Business Media New York, 2015 Adolescents nationallicence Social anxiety nationallicence Safety behaviors nationallicence Taq1A nationallicence BDNF nationallicence Thomas Sarah Comprehensive Assessment and Intervention Program, Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, Biology/Psychology Building, Room 3123H, 20742, College Park, MD, USA aut Weeks Justin Department of Psychology, Ohio University, Athens, OH, USA aut Dougherty Lea Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA aut Lipton Melanie Comprehensive Assessment and Intervention Program, Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, Biology/Psychology Building, Room 3123H, 20742, College Park, MD, USA aut Daruwala Samantha Comprehensive Assessment and Intervention Program, Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, Biology/Psychology Building, Room 3123H, 20742, College Park, MD, USA aut Kline Kathryn Comprehensive Assessment and Intervention Program, Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, Biology/Psychology Building, Room 3123H, 20742, College Park, MD, USA aut De Los Reyes Andres Comprehensive Assessment and Intervention Program, Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, Biology/Psychology Building, Room 3123H, 20742, College Park, MD, USA aut Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment Springer US; http://www.springer-ny.com 37/4(2015-12-01), 597-610 0882-2689 37:4<597 2015 37 10862 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-015-9488-8 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 Metadata rights reserved Springer special CC-BY-NC licence nationallicence 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-springer NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-015-9488-8 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Thomas Sarah Comprehensive Assessment and Intervention Program, Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, Biology/Psychology Building, Room 3123H, 20742, College Park, MD, USA aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Weeks Justin Department of Psychology, Ohio University, Athens, OH, USA aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Dougherty Lea Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Lipton Melanie Comprehensive Assessment and Intervention Program, Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, Biology/Psychology Building, Room 3123H, 20742, College Park, MD, USA aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Daruwala Samantha Comprehensive Assessment and Intervention Program, Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, Biology/Psychology Building, Room 3123H, 20742, College Park, MD, USA aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Kline Kathryn Comprehensive Assessment and Intervention Program, Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, Biology/Psychology Building, Room 3123H, 20742, College Park, MD, USA aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- De Los Reyes Andres Comprehensive Assessment and Intervention Program, Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, Biology/Psychology Building, Room 3123H, 20742, College Park, MD, USA aut NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment Springer US; http://www.springer-ny.com 37/4(2015-12-01), 597-610 0882-2689 37:4<597 2015 37 10862