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Development of a Measure of Fearful Implicit Associations with Dental Stimuli in Youth

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Abstract

Youth with dental anxiety are at an increased risk of poor oral health but current tools used to identify dental anxiety in children in clinical settings are hampered by several limitations. This study assessed the psychometric properties of a measure of implicit associations with dental stimuli, the Affective Misattribution Procedure for dental stimuli (AMP-D) in 68 youth between the ages of 9 and 17 years. Measures of self-reported dental anxiety and parental perceptions of child dental anxiety were also administered. The internal consistency of the AMP-D was high (KR-20 = 0.96) and 1-week test-retest reliability was in the acceptable range (r = 0.75). The AMP-D was correlated with self-reported dental anxiety, providing evidence of construct validity. The psychometric properties of the AMP-D suggest it could be a useful tool in identifying youth with dental anxiety, particularly when concerns regarding self-representation may compromise the validity of self-reported anxiety.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychological Science, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, 1201 W University Dr, Edinburg, TX, 78539, USA

    Laura D. Seligman, Liza Talavera-Garza, Marina Ibarra & Joseph D. Hovey

  2. Department of Psychology, University of Toledo, Toledo, OH, USA

    Andrew L. Geers

  3. National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, USA

    Ashley B. Murray

Authors
  1. Laura D. Seligman
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  2. Liza Talavera-Garza
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  3. Andrew L. Geers
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  4. Ashley B. Murray
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  5. Marina Ibarra
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  6. Joseph D. Hovey
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Correspondence to Laura D. Seligman.

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Seligman, L.D., Talavera-Garza, L., Geers, A.L. et al. Development of a Measure of Fearful Implicit Associations with Dental Stimuli in Youth. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev 54, 665–671 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-021-01269-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-021-01269-5

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