Response inhibition, cognitive flexibility and hypervigilance in adolescents with and without generalized anxiety disorder

The aim of this study was to compare response inhibition, cognitive flexibility and hypervigilance in adolescents with and without generalized anxiety disorder. The population consisted of 152 adolescents aged 16 to 22 years with/without generalized anxiety disorder who were referred to counseling and psychological service centers in Alborz province from 2022 to 2023. 74 of them were adolescents without generalized anxiety disorder and 78 of whom were adolescents with generalized anxiety disorder selected by convenience sampling. The data was collected using the General Anxiety Disorder Questionnaire, the Cognitive Flexibility Questionnaire, the Stroop Complex Word Test and the Continuous Performance Test and was analyzed by Multivariate analysis of variance through SPSS-22. The results showed that the group with generalized anxiety disorder had lower scores for response inhibition and cognitive flexibility and higher scores for hypervigilance. The results suggest that response inhibition, cognitive flexibility and hypervigilance are different in adolescents with and without generalized anxiety disorder, and these functions are impaired in people with generalized anxiety disorder.