(PS3-25) Psychometric Properties of a Measure of “Hot” Attention Control in Clinically Anxious Youth

Abstract Text: Attention control (AC), the ability to strategically focus and shift attention, is an executive functioning component that has been linked theoretically and empirically to psychopathologies, including anxiety and its disorders.
Traditionally, measures of AC have focused only on attention control strategies and not considered the context in which those strategies are applied. Such measures have been referred to as measures of “cold” AC, meaning they assess AC in the abstract or in emotionally neutral contexts. There is growing recognition that AC may function differently in neutral (cold) versus emotionally demanding (hot) contexts, with the latter theorized to be especially relevant to anxiety and its disorders. The Emotional Attentional Control Scale (eACS) was developed to assess AC in hot contexts among adults. Support has emerged for the eACS’ internal consistency and concurrent validity via correlations with anxiety symptoms in adult samples. To our knowledge, the eACS and its psychometric properties have never been examined in youth. This represents a critical measurement gap given the high prevalence of anxiety disorders in youth and the recent development of interventions for anxiety that target AC.
This study addressed this measurement gap by gathering the first data on the eACS in a youth sample. Specifically, we evaluated the factor structure, internal consistency, and validity of the eACS in a clinic-referred sample of anxious youth (N = 244, ages 7–16 years). Exploratory factor analysis supported a two-factor structure, with one factor assessing Executive Control of Emotions (ECE; 5 items, omega = 0.70) and the other assessing Emotional Attention Interference (EAI; 9 items, omega = 0.86). Convergent validity was demonstrated through moderate correlations between EAI and a measure of cold AC (r = 0.43) as well as between ECE and a measure of cold AC (r = 0.45). Concurrent validity was supported by moderate correlations between EAI and anxiety (Screen for Child Anxiety Related Disorders, SCARED) (r = -0.67) and depressive symptoms (Children’s Depression Inventory 2, CDI-II) (r = -0.59), respectively.
These findings support the eACS as a theoretically coherent, internally consistent, and valid measure of hot attention control in youth. Future research is encouraged to examine the measure’s retest reliability and sensitivity to interventions in youth samples.