An Assessment of Social Phobia and Social Anxiety and their Relation to Self-Consciousness

Abstract

The translation of the Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory (SPAI) into Icelandic was submitted to a psychometric assessment. Two hundred sixty-three university students participated in the study. In addition to the SPAI they filled in Fenigstein, Scheier and Buss' (1975) Self-Consciousness Scale (SCS) as well as Spielberger's (1983) State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI). A principal components analysis of the SPAI yielded as expected an agoraphobia and a social phobia factor. As expected the Social Anxiety Scale of the SCS correlated much more strongly with the Social Phobia than the Agoraphobia Scale. The correlation of the Social Phobia Scale with the Social Anxiety Scale was substantially higher than its correlation with any other anxiety measure. The relationships between the Social Phobia Scale and Public versus Private Self-Consciousness were moreover in accordance with theoretical expectations as well as prior research. Generally the discriminant and convergent validity of the Icelandic translation of the Social Phobia Scale as a measure of social anxiety is supported.     

Social skills in women with Turner Syndrome

The aim of this study was to evaluate the performance of a group of women with Turner Syndrome (TS) in interpersonal situations where several social skills were required, and to compare the results with unaffected sisters. Fifty-two TS females aged 15-35 years and 33 sisters aged 16-43 were evaluated using Del-Prette Social Skills Inventory (SSI) and individual interviews. Thirty mothers to subjects and sisters answered questionnaires. It was found that TS girls' performance in SSI was as good as their sisters' and even better in meeting new people and facing unknown situations (p = 0.020). Older TS women scored better than younger ones, differently from their sisters. There were no significant correlations between total score of TS women and their age at diagnosis, time of follow-up and height z-score. Mothers reported having more problems with TS girls than with sisters. Although TS girls demonstrated having social difficulties, just a few of them spontaneously complained about interpersonal problems in the interview. Results suggest that social difficulties may not cause TS girls major problems nor make them unhappy with their social lives, and/or TS girls may not be able to perceive their own difficulties. Good performance in SSI also suggests that TS girls can identify adequate skills in presented situations and answer in a way to obtain good scores, but they may not necessarily use their skills due to other factors like anxiety and shyness. They may also have a tendency to answer SSI in a way they consider socially desirable, masking their real difficulties.     

Expectations and Attributions in Social Anxiety Disorder: Diagnostic Distinctions and Relationship to General Anxiety and Depression

Contemporary cognitive models suggest that social anxiety disorder arises from a number of cognitive factors, including tendencies to form pessimistic (rather than optimistic) attributions and expectations for socially-related events. These models also assume that the strengths of such attributions and expectations are more closely linked with social anxiety than with general anxiety or depression. To test these assumptions, a battery of self-report measures was completed by participants with a primary diagnosis of generalized social anxiety disorder (n?=?75), panic disorder with agoraphobia (n?=?44), or post-traumatic stress disorder (n?=?59). To examine differences on these cognitive variables, group comparisons were performed controlling for general anxiety, depression and medication status. Social anxiety disorder, compared with panic disorder with agoraphobia and post-traumatic stress disorder, was characterized by lower expectations for positive social events and higher expectations for negative social events. There was no difference among the groups on expectations for non-social positive or negative events. Stable and global attributions for social negative events were more closely associated with social anxiety disorder than with panic disorder with agoraphobia and post-traumatic stress disorder. Correlational analyses also revealed specific relationships among social-cognitive measures and social anxiety, even after controlling for general anxiety and depression. The results are consistent with cognitive models of social anxiety disorder.     

Social Anxiety and the Post-Event Processing of Socially Distressing Events

The correlation between social anxiety, as measured by the Social Phobia Scale, and negative post-event processing of socially distressing events, as measured by a diary record, was studied in a sample of 62 undergraduate students during a 1-week period. Of the participants, 55 individuals reported the experience of at least 1 socially distressing event during this time; only 24 of the participants, however, reported distressing events of a negative-evaluational character during the recording week. Although the Social Phobia Scale did not correlate with post-event processing of socially distressing events in general, it showed moderate to strong correlations with post-event processing of negative-evaluational events both on the same day and on the following day. Furthermore, the degree of negative post-event processing that was reported the same day was strongly predictive of the degree of such processing that was reported the following day. The results confirm that negative post-event processing is a real phenomenon with regard to socially distressing situations, and that high social anxiety is associated with higher degrees of such post-event processing of negative-evaluational events. The results also suggest that social anxiety is only one of several forms of interpersonal distress that are characterized by such negative post-event processing; other forms of such distress involve other fears (fears of separation or loneliness, fears of hurting others, etc.) or other kinds of feelings (e.g. guilt and anger).     

Social anxiety,self‐regulation,and fear of negative evaluation

Social anxiety was investigated in a self‐regulation framework in a sample of 174 undergraduates (124 females; 50 males). As expected, individuals higher in social anxiety were lower on the expectancy to achieve goals, lower on self‐esteem and lower on the frequency on self‐reinforcement. Multiple regression analyses revealed that expectancy to achieve goals, fear of negative evaluation, and public self‐consciousness accounted for 33 per cent of the variance in social anxiety. Fear of negative evaluation was found to mediate between (i) self‐esteem and social anxiety (as hypothesized) and (ii) self‐reinforcement and social anxiety (investigated in an exploratory nature). Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The fading affect bias shows positive outcomes at the general but not the individual level of analysis in the context of social media

Unpleasant affect fades faster than pleasant affect (e.g., Walker, Vogl, & Thompson, 1997); this effect is referred to as the Fading Affect Bias (FAB; Walker, Skowronski, Gibbons, Vogl, & Thompson, 2003a). Research shows that the FAB is consistently related to positive/healthy outcomes at a general but not at a specific level of analysis based on event types and individual differences (e.g., Gibbons et al., 2013). Based on the positive outcomes for FAB and negative outcomes for social media (Bolton et al., 2013; Huang, 2010), the current study examined FAB in the context of social media events along with related individual differences. General positive outcomes were shown in the form of robust FAB effects across social media and non-social media events, a larger FAB for non-social media events than for social media events, negative correlations of FAB with depression, anxiety, and stress as well as a positive correlation of FAB with self-esteem. However, the lack of a negative correlation between FAB and anxiety for social media events in a 3-way interaction did not show positive outcomes at a specific level of analysis. Rehearsal ratings mediated the 3-way interaction. Implications are discussed.     

Social Anxiety in Children with Anxiety Disorders: Relation with Social and Emotional Functioning

Investigated the psychometric properties of the Social Anxiety Scale for children-Revised (SASC-R) as well as relations between social anxiety and children's social and emotional functioning. Participants were a clinic sample of children, ages 6–11 with anxiety disorders (N = 154) who completed the SASC-R. For a subset of these children, parent ratings of social skills, and self-ratings of perceived competence and peer interactions were also obtained. Factor analysis of the SASC-R supported the original three-factor solution and internal consistencies were in the acceptable range. Among children with simple phobia, scores on the SASC-R differentiated those with and without a comorbid social-based anxiety disorder. Social anxiety was also associated with impairments in social and emotional functioning. Specifically, highly socially anxious children reported low levels of social acceptance and global self-esteem and more negative peer interactions. Girls with high levels of social anxiety were also rated by parents as having poor social skills, particularly in the areas of assertive and responsible social behavior.     

Life events,social support and depression in haemodialysis patients

This study examined the effects of life events and social support on depression in 200 dialysis patients. The instruments used included the Beck Depression Inventory, a modified version of Sarason's Life Experiences Survey and a Social Support Inventory (SSI) constructed by the authors. The SSI consisted of five quantitative measures and three measures of perceived social support. These measures were found to be internally consistent and stable over time. Results showed that clinically depressed dialysis patients reported fewer positive life events and appraised life events more negatively than non‐depressed patients. The total number of life events and the number of negative life events were not found to differentiate between depressed and non‐depressed patients. With regard to social support variables, results showed that depressed patients reported less frequent actual contact and telephone contact with others and perceived a smaller amount and less availability of social support and less satisfaction with perceived social support along the functional dimensions of emotional, informational, appraisal and instrumental support and social companionship. The results were found to provide support for a main effect model of social support and not for a buffering model. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Mediating and Moderating Effects of Social Support in the Relationship Between Social Anxiety and Hope Levels in Children

This study aims to examine whether hope levels are predicted by social anxiety and social support and to investigate if the relationship between social anxiety and children’s hope levels is mediated and moderated by the social support of children. The Social Anxiety Scale for Children, Children’s Hope Scale, and Social Support Appraisals Scale for Children were administrated to a sample of 289 children (148 males and 141 females) enrolled in public school. To determine the relationships between variables, a Pearson correlation coefficient was utilized. Regression-based mediation and moderation analyses assessed whether social support mediates and moderates the relationship between social anxiety and children’s hope levels. Social anxiety and social support both correlated significantly with children’s hope levels; social anxiety had a negative correlation with children’s hope levels, while social support was positively correlated. Regression-based mediation and moderation analyses showed that social support mediates and moderates the relationship between social anxiety and children’s hope levels. The results of the present study emphasized the effects of social support on children; it had a positive effect on hope levels and a negative effect on social anxiety. Based on these results, it is recommended that the social support of children is increased via psycho-education programs for parents, caregivers, and teachers. It is further recommended that social-support-seeking behavior programs are developed in educational and mental health settings.     

Expectations and attributions in social anxiety disorder: diagnostic distinctions and relationship to general anxiety and depression

Contemporary cognitive models suggest that social anxiety disorder arises from a number of cognitive factors, including tendencies to form pessimistic (rather than optimistic) attributions and expectations for socially-related events. These models also assume that the strengths of such attributions and expectations are more closely linked with social anxiety than with general anxiety or depression. To test these assumptions, a battery of self-report measures was completed by participants with a primary diagnosis of generalized social anxiety disorder (n = 75), panic disorder with agoraphobia (n = 44), or post-traumatic stress disorder (n = 59). To examine differences on these cognitive variables, group comparisons were performed controlling for general anxiety, depression and medication status. Social anxiety disorder, compared with panic disorder with agoraphobia and post-traumatic stress disorder, was characterized by lower expectations for positive social events and higher expectations for negative social events. There was no difference among the groups on expectations for non-social positive or negative events. Stable and global attributions for social negative events were more closely associated with social anxiety disorder than with panic disorder with agoraphobia and post-traumatic stress disorder. Correlational analyses also revealed specific relationships among social-cognitive measures and social anxiety, even after controlling for general anxiety and depression. The results are consistent with cognitive models of social anxiety disorder.     

Discriminant validity of the Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory (SPAI), the Social Phobia Scale (SPS) and the Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (SIAS)

Three measures commonly used in assessment of social phobia, the Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory (SPAI [Turner, S. M., Beidel, D. C. & Dancu, C. V. (1996). Social phobia and anxiety inventory: manual. Toronto, Ont.: Multi-Health Systems Inc.), the Social Phobia Scale (SPS [Mattick, R. P. & Clarke, J. C. (1998). Development and validation of measures of social phobia scrutiny fear and social interaction anxiety. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 36, 455-470] and the Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (SIAS [Mattick, R. P. & Clarke, J. C. (1998). Development and validation of measures of social phobia scrutiny fear and social interaction anxiety. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 36, 455-470], were compared for their ability to discriminate between social phobia and other anxiety disorders (panic disorder with or without agoraphobia). Participants were 117 patients attending a specialized anxiety disorders unit for treatment. While all three measures were able to detect differences between social phobic patients and patients with panic disorder with or without agoraphobia, a logistic regression analysis showed that the SPAI, but not the SPS and SIAS, was a significant predictor of membership of the social phobia group. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis also showed that the SPAI was the better measure for discriminating between social phobia and panic disorder with and without agoraphobia. Analysis of the sensitivity, specificity and positive and negative predictive power of the measures at the optimum cutoff scores produced by the ROC analysis are presented.     

Social phobia and interpretation of social events

It has been suggested that social phobia may be characterized by two interpretation biases. First, a tendency to interpret ambiguous social events in a negative fashion. Second, a tendency to interpret unambiguous but mildly negative social events in a catastrophic fashion. To assess this possibility, patients with generalized social phobia, equally anxious patients with another anxiety disorder, and non-patient controls were presented with ambiguous scenarios depicting social and non-social events, and with unambiguous scenarios depicting mildly negative social events. Interpretations were assessed by participants' answers to open-ended questions and by their rankings and belief ratings for experimenter-provided, alternative explanations. Compared to both control groups, patients with generalized social phobia were more likely to interpret ambiguous social events in a negative fashion and to catastrophize in response to unambiguous, mildly negative social events.     

述情障碍与中学生人际关系:有调节的中介模型

为明确述情障碍与中学生人际关系间关系的内在机制,采用中学生人际关系量表、多伦多述情障碍量表、社交焦虑量表及领悟社会支持量表调查了北京市、石家庄市、佳木斯市三所中学7至11年级共998名学生,根据述情障碍的筛查标准,最终获得218份有效数据。结论如下：（1）述情障碍与社交焦虑呈显著正相关,与人际关系、社会支持呈显著负相关;人际关系与社交焦虑呈显著负相关,而与社会支持呈显著正相关;社交焦虑与社会支持呈显著负相关;（2）社交焦虑在述情障碍与中学生人际关系间起中介作用;社会支持在述情障碍与中学生人际关系间起调节作用;（3）"述情障碍→社交焦虑→中学生人际关系"这一中介路径的前半段,受到社会支持的调节。与高社会支持个体相比,述情障碍对低社会支持个体的社交焦虑影响更大。     

述情障碍与中学生人际关系:有调节的中介模型

为明确述情障碍与中学生人际关系间关系的内在机制,采用中学生人际关系量表、多伦多述情障碍量表、社交焦虑量表及领悟社会支持量表调查了北京市、石家庄市、佳木斯市三所中学7至11年级共998名学生,根据述情障碍的筛查标准,最终获得218份有效数据。结论如下：（1）述情障碍与社交焦虑呈显著正相关,与人际关系、社会支持呈显著负相关;人际关系与社交焦虑呈显著负相关,而与社会支持呈显著正相关;社交焦虑与社会支持呈显著负相关;（2）社交焦虑在述情障碍与中学生人际关系间起中介作用;社会支持在述情障碍与中学生人际关系间起调节作用;（3）"述情障碍→社交焦虑→中学生人际关系"这一中介路径的前半段,受到社会支持的调节。与高社会支持个体相比,述情障碍对低社会支持个体的社交焦虑影响更大。     

Psychometric Properties of a Social Skills Assessment using a Virtual Environment

Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) is a marked and persistent fear of social and/or performance situations in which embarrassment or scrutiny from others may occur. One form of behavioral assessment is a Role Play Task (RPT). However, RPTs often are not feasible in clinical settings due to the common obstacles in implementation. Thus, the current study examines the feasibility, acceptability and psychometric properties of a virtual environment based social skills assessment compared to the traditional RPT. Forty-six children, ages 7 to 14, participated in two assessment conditions: RPT and a virtual environment behavioral assessment (VE BAT). Participants reported self-ratings of anxiety and acceptability, while blinded observers rated social skills and overall social anxiety. An ANCOVA, covarying for age, revealed (a) no significant task difference for voice volume, speech latency, number of words spoken, effectiveness, and SAM ratings; (b) that the VE BAT was more feasible to implement in terms of personnel time and costs and; (c) more overall anxiety during the RPT task than during the VE BAT task. In addition, the VE BAT demonstrated moderate concurrent validity when correlating the self-report ratings of anxiety with the Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory for Children (SPAI-C). The current study addresses many of the impediments to conducting RPTs in a clinical setting and, overall, supports the utilization of VE BATS as a viable alternative for the behavioral assessment of social skills in children. Further implications address the potential for the armamentarium for social skills training with children with SAD.     

日常生活事件对中学生社会适应的影响：社会问题解决能力的中介作用

采用问卷法,对2157名中学生日常生活事件的特点,及其与社会适应、社会问题解决能力的关系进行研究。结果发现：（1）学业压力与人际冲突是中学生所遇到的最主要的日常生活事件,低年级经历的事件显著少于高年级,女生经历的事件显著少于男生;（2）中学生日常生活事件显著负向预测积极适应,显著正向预测消极适应;（3）社会问题解决能力在日常生活事件和社会适应之间起到部分中介作用,其中问题趋近、问题回避的作用尤其突出。     

Personality and social skill differences between adults with and without siblings.

Differences in personality and social skills of 146 adults with 1 or more siblings and 51 adults without siblings were investigated to examine the importance of family structure for individual personality development. Participants completed the Social Skills Inventory (SSI; R. E. Riggio, 1989), which measures social and emotional sensitivity, expressivity, and control, and the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ; H. J. Eysenck & S. B. G. Eysenck, 1975), which measures the personality factors of Extraversion-Introversion, Neuroticism-Stability, and Psychoticism. Results revealed only a marginal difference between individuals with and without siblings in Neuroticism, and no differences in various social skills or overall social competence. Possible explanations for the lack of differences in social skills between adults with and without siblings are discussed.     

Social anxiety in stuttering: measuring negative social expectancies

Much research has suggested that those who stutter are likely to be anxious. However, to date, little research on this topic has addressed the role of expectancies of harm in anxiety, which is a central construct of anxiety in modern clinical psychology. There are good reasons to believe that the anxiety of those who stutter is related to expectancies of social harm. Therefore, in the present study, 34 stuttering and 34 control participants completed the Fear of Negative Evaluation (FNE) Scale and the Endler Multidimensional Anxiety Scales-Trait (EMAS-T). The FNE data showed a significant difference between the stuttering and control participants, with a large effect size. Results suggested that, as a group, a clinical population of people who stutter has anxiety that is restricted to the social domain. For the EMAS-T, significant differences between groups were obtained for the two subtests that refer specifically to people and social interactions in which social evaluation might occur (Social Evaluation and New/Strange Situations) but not for the subtests that contained no specific reference to people and social interactions (Physical Danger and Daily Routines). These results were taken to suggest that those who stutter differ from control subjects in their expectation of negative social evaluation, and that the effect sizes are clinically significant. The findings also suggest that the FNE and the EMAS-T are appropriate psychological tests of anxiety to use with stuttering clients in clinical settings. The clinical and research implications of these findings are discussed, in terms of whether social anxiety mediates stuttering or is a simple by-product of stuttering. Possible laboratory explorations of this issue are suggested, and potential Cognitive Behavior Therapy packages for stuttering clients who might need them are discussed. EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES: The reader will be able to: (1) explain why expectancy of social threat or harm may be associated with stuttering; (2) name and describe two psychological tests that are suitable for assessment of the social threat or harm that may be associated with stuttering; and (3) explain how findings for the EMAS-T test in the present results suggest that expectancy of social threat or harm, but not other kinds of negative expectancy, are associated with stuttering.     

Social anxiety and interpersonal stress generation: the moderating role of interpersonal distress

Background and Objectives: Existing models of social anxiety scarcely account for interpersonal stress generation. These models also seldom include interpersonal factors that compound the effects of social anxiety. Given recent findings that two forms of interpersonal distress, perceived burdensomeness and thwarted belongingness, intensify social anxiety and cause interpersonal stress generation, these two constructs may be especially relevant to examining social anxiety and interpersonal stress generation together.

Design: The current study extended prior research by examining the role of social anxiety in the occurrence of negative and positive interpersonal events and evaluated whether interpersonal distress moderated these associations.

Methods: Undergraduate students (N?=?243; M?=?20.46 years; 83% female) completed self-report measures of social anxiety, perceived burdensomeness, and thwarted belongingness, as well as a self-report measure and clinician-rated interview assessing negative and positive interpersonal events that occurred over the past six weeks.

Results: Higher levels of social anxiety were associated only with a higher occurrence of negative interpersonal dependent events, after controlling for depressive symptoms. This relationship was stronger among individuals who also reported higher levels of perceived burdensomeness, but not thwarted belongingness.

Conclusions: It may be important to more strongly consider interpersonal stress generation in models of social anxiety.