Social anxiety disorder and interpretation bias in adolescents

Social anxiety disorder is a common and disabling disorder in adolescents. It is generally assumed that cognitive processes play a central role in the maintenance of SAD and this is the basis for cognitive-behavioral therapy. Interpretation bias, a form of cognitive bias, namely the tendency to systematically assign a negative meaning to ambiguous social situations, is an important theoretical construct that has empirical support, and is considered to play a role in SAD. Interpretation bias has been extensively studied in adult populations, but has received little attention in adolescents. This paper aims to highlight what is known about interpretation bias in adolescents with social anxiety and discuss directions for future research in this area.