Social Anxiety and School Refusal in Adolescence

The development of public speech anxiety in youth

Researchers: Anke Blöte Aanhane, PhD and Kwang Poungjit

Financial support from the Gratama Foundation

Our research aims is to discover if the public speaking anxiety that many youngsters experience originates from specific characteristics in their earlier development. Can we predict which children and youngsters will develop public speaking anxiety and which will not, based on measures of subjectively experienced fear, cognition, self-image, perceived support from peers and adults, and behaviors and physiological reactions during the public speaking task? For this research, we use a great deal of data obtained from questionnaires and tests as well as video recordings of students during a public speaking task.

See the Leiden Public Speaking Task for more information.