The relationship between an internal causal attributional bias and social anxiety in children

Crick & Dodge's (1994) social information-processing model of social adjustment suggests the presence of an internal causal attributional bias may promote the maintenance of social phobia/anxiety. Research with adults has provided evidence in support of this. Research with children has been ambiguous and suffered from methodological shortcomings. These were addressed in the present study. School children completed measures of social anxiety, depression, and internal causal attributions. The results indicate that a significant relationship is evident between the tendency to attribute failure internally and social anxiety. These results support the notion that an internal causal attributional bias may promote the maintenance, and possibly the development, of social anxiety. The significance of these findings for clinical interventions with children and ideas for future research are discussed.