Anxiety in Teens: Eye Contact Avoidance Could Help Identify It Earlier |
Posted: February 19, 2019 |
“Eyes are the window to the soul”–a saying that has been passed around for hundreds of years, with no known origin, but seems to resonate. The eyes are critical for making decisions, understanding another person’s emotions, and helping others understand yours. New research suggests that we may even be able to use the eyes to identify anxiety in teens and children. It’s well-known that when adults are nervous, they avoid eye contact–but what about youth? There’s much less research done on why they make or avoid eye contact, but a new study sought to change that. How eye-contact avoidance could point to anxiety issuesIn a new study conducted by the University of California, Riverside, researchers discovered that anxious children have a tendency to avoid eye contact, which can lead to other effects on how they experience fear compared to others. The researchers sought out to answer three questions:
The participants in the study–82 children, ages 9 to 13–were put in front of a computer screen that was setup to track eye movements. First, they were shown two women’s faces a total of four times. Next, one of the pictures was combined with a loud scream and an expression of fear, the other was not. At the end, the children were shown the photos of the faces again without any sound. The important part was whether the children’s eyes lingered on the eyes of the face with the scream or the one that wasn’t. Afterwards, they compared the anxiety scores alongside eye contact to see if there was a correlation between the two. Here were the study’s final conclusions:
This gives us deeper insight into anxiety in teens and how it begins in the early teen years. It seems that avoiding eye contact can relieve a child’s anxiety in the short-term, but leads to them not learning essential social information that allows them to read others correctly in the long-term. If you believe your child is struggling, it’s critical to reach out to a professional for further guidance. Article Source: https://www.viewpointcenter.com/blog/anxiety-in-teens-eye-contact-avoidance/ Additional Source
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