Citation

Gallagher-Duffy J, Mackay S, Duffy J, Sullivan-Thomas M, Peterson-Badali M. J. Abnorm. Child Psychol. 2009; 37(8): 1165-1176.

Affiliation

Student Support Services Division, Western School District, P.O. Box 368, Corner Brook, NL, A2H 6G9, Canada, Joanne.Gallagher-Duffy@wnlsd.ca.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s10802-009-9339-8

PMID

19707868

Abstract

Fire interest is a risk factor for firesetting. This study tested whether a fire-specific emotional Stroop task can effectively measure an information-processing bias for fire-related stimuli. Clinic-referred and nonreferred adolescents (aged 13-16 years) completed a pictorial "Fire Stroop," as well as a self-report fire interest questionnaire and several control tasks. Results showed (a) comparatively greater fire-specific attentional bias among referred adolescent firesetters, (b) a negative relationship between Fire Stroop attentional bias and self-reported fire interest, and (c) positive correspondence between Fire Stroop attentional bias and self-reported firesetting frequency. These findings suggest that instruments that measure an automatic bias for fire-specific stimuli may usefully supplement self-report measures in the assessment and understanding of firesetting behavior.

Language: en