Abstract

Objective: The present study aimed to determine the difference between the attentional focus in girls and boys with depression and social phobia and that of normal or healthy children in Azna County. According to the definition of some researchers, attention control (i.e. attentional focus) means paying attention to maladaptive methods that include external and internal attention. Method: The Comparative-Causal research method has been used to test this hypothesis as the difference has been investigated between three groups consisting of depressed students, students with social phobia, and normal students, which are more than two groups. The dependent variable was normal and a one-way analysis of variance was used. In this study, the attentional focus was examined among girls and boys suffering from depression and social phobia through the Focus of Attention Questionnaire developed by Woody, Chambless and Glass, the Social Phobia Inventory (SPIN), and Janbozorgi Questionnaire for Children and Adolescents (CADs) which is a scale provided by Janbozorgi in Iran. The statistical population consisted of 90 participants among whom there were 30 cases with depression (15 boys and 15 girls), 30 cases with social phobia (15 boys and 15 girls), and 30 normal or healthy students (15 boys and 15 girls). Findings: According to the tables, the mean values are significantly higher in the attentional focus among normal students, followed by students with social phobia and finally students with depression. Results: The results showed that there is a direct relationship between the attentional focus and social phobia and depression among the students in Azna County and there is no difference between girls and boys in this regard.