| This study examined relationships between physiological reactivity and social and emotional behavioral traits in children and adolescents using a measure of electrodermal activity (EDA) during a naturalistic social challenge. Sixty-eight typically developing boys and girls between the ages of 5 and 18 completed the physiology protocol and two behavioral questionnaires, the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS) and the Behavioral Assessment System for Children, Second Edition (BASC-II), were completed by the subjects' parents. Results indicated that children's electrodermal response increased during the social press, and this increase correlated positively with anxiety symptoms on the BASC-II. EDA measures also correlated significantly with the SRS; however, the nature of these correlations differed significantly by gender. This study indicates that EDA is a promising measure for examining physiological underpinnings of social behavior and may be useful for assessing social anxiety in clinical populations. |
