Gender differences in the relationship between attentional bias to threat and social anxiety in adolescents

• Relation between adolescents’ attentional bias to threat and social anxiety.
• Males’ attentional bias to threat was positively related to social anxiety.
• Females’ attentional bias to threat was not related to social anxiety.

In the current study, gender differences in the relationship between attentional bias to threat and social anxiety were tested in 10- to 16-year-olds. Emotional faces were used as the experiment material, and a modified dot probe task was used to measure attentional bias. The level of social anxiety, depression, and loneliness were also measured via the Social Anxiety Scale for Children, Children’s Depression Inventory, and Children’s Loneliness Scale. Results indicated that males’ attentional bias to threat was significantly, positively correlated with their social anxiety, yet no correlation was found for females. For adolescents, the gender differences in the relationship between attentional bias to threat and social anxiety was notable.