Examination of Non-Facial Emotion Recognition in Adolescents with Anorexia Nervosa

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine social cognitive skills of adolescents with anorexia nervosa. Per the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC), the specific focus of this study was the ability to understand non-facial communication, e.g., emotional content communicated through paralanguage or body postures. Thirty-one adolescents receiving treatment at an outpatient clinic completed self-report symptom measures, a task-based measure of emotion recognition, and self-reported social media use. Parents also completed measures of behavioral and emotional symptoms and social skills for their child. Results revealed that the study sample performed significantly worse than normative samples on the task of identifying emotions from body language, but not on the task of paralanguage. Additional analyses revealed no associations between task performance and eating disorder symptoms, treatment-related variables, or social media use. However, there were significant correlations between performance on the paralanguage task and anxiety, such that higher anxiety or internalizing symptoms predicted better performance. Lastly, the mean score on the parent-report measure of their child’s social skills suggests that this sample was mildly to moderately impaired in the area of social motivation. This was the first study to evaluate the construct of reception of non-facial communication in a sample of adolescents with anorexia nervosa, and adds to the limited body of research about this construct in adults with eating disorders. The findings have potentially important implications for the psychological treatment of adolescents with anorexia nervosa. Additional research with larger and more diverse samples