Comorbid anxiety and mood disorders among persons with social anxiety disorder.

Axis I comorbidity is associated with greater severity of social anxiety disorder. However, the differential effects of comorbid mood and anxiety disorders on symptom severity or treatment outcome have not been investigated. We evaluated 69 persons with uncomplicated social anxiety disorder, 39 persons with an additional anxiety disorder, and 33 persons with an additional mood disorder (with or without additional anxiety disorders). Those with comorbid mood disorders reported greater duration of social anxiety than those with uncomplicated social anxiety disorder. They were also judged, before and after 12 weeks of cognitive-behavioral group treatment and at follow-up, to be more severely impaired than those with no comorbid diagnosis. In contrast, persons with comorbid anxiety disorders were rated as more impaired than those with no comorbid diagnosis on only a single measure. Type of comorbid diagnosis did not result in differential rates of improvement of social anxiety disorder.     

Gender role traits among individuals with social anxiety disorder

The present study investigated differences between individuals with and without social anxiety disorder (SAD) in instrumentality and expressiveness, personality traits traditionally linked to the male and female gender roles, respectively. Based on evolutionary and self-discrepancy theories, it was hypothesized that individuals with SAD would score lower on instrumentality and report a discrepancy between their perceived and ideal level of instrumentality compared to control participants. Sixty-four patients with SAD and 31 non-anxious control participants completed a battery of questionnaires, including ratings of their perceived and ideal gender role attributes and current psychosocial distress. Results supported the hypotheses, and provided initial evidence that a discrepancy between perceived and ideal instrumentality may be linked to social anxiety severity, depression and lower quality of life. No differences were detected between groups in expressiveness. The present findings suggest that individuals with SAD perceive themselves to be deficient in instrumentality. They also suggest that increasing instrumentality among individuals with SAD may be beneficial for treatment.     

Exploring a model linking social physique anxiety,drive for muscularity,drive for thinness and self-esteem among adolescent boys and girls

This study examined gender differences on body image measures, and tested a model where self-esteem influences social physique anxiety (SPA), which in turn influences drive for muscularity and drive for thinness in a sample of adolescents (N = 329; 58% boys). Multi-group invariance analyses indicated that the measurement and structural models were partially invariant for boys and girls, allowing for gender comparisons. Results indicated that boys reported significantly lower drive for thinness and SPA, and higher drive for muscularity and self-esteem compared to girls. The measurement and structural models were an adequate fit for the total sample. Findings supported the proposed sequence in which self-esteem significantly influenced SPA, and SPA significantly influenced the drives for muscularity and thinness. Interventions aimed at decreasing SPA, by promoting self-esteem, may be helpful in decreasing adolescent boys’ and girls’ drive for muscularity and thinness.     

Perceived competence, social anxiety about physique, and enjoyment in testing situations among groups of mixed sex and girls only.

The purpose of the present study was to assess whether there are differences in agility and coordination performance, anxiety about physique, perceived competence, and enjoyment between girls (n = 56) performing within mixed-sex versus all-female high school classes in physical education. A series of between-group comparisons yielded no significant differences between groups on measures of performance, perceived competence, and anxiety about physique; however, the mixed-sex group reported significantly greater enjoyment on both psychomotor tests than the all-female group (ps < or = .05). Results are discussed within other contexts such as sport motivation and Weiss and Chaumeton's (1992) theory of youth sport development.     

Attachment in individuals with social anxiety disorder: the relationship among adult attachment styles,social anxiety,and depression

Despite their apparent implications for social functioning, adult attachment styles have never been specifically explored among persons with social anxiety disorder. In the current study, a cluster analysis of the Revised Adult Attachment Scale (N. L. Collins, 1996) revealed that 118 patients with social anxiety were best represented by anxious and secure attachment style clusters. Members of the anxious attachment cluster exhibited more severe social anxiety and avoidance, greater depression, greater impairment, and lower life satisfaction than members of the secure attachment cluster. This pattern was replicated in a separate sample of 56 patients and compared with the pattern found in 36 control participants. Social anxiety mediated the association between attachment insecurity and depression. Findings are discussed in the context of their relevance to the etiology, maintenance, and cognitive-behavioral treatment of social anxiety disorder.     

Levels of interpersonal concerns and social functioning in early adolescent boys and girls

Previous research has shown that the Interpersonal Concerns factor of the Depressive Experiences Questionnaire (DEQ; Blatt, D'Affliti, & Quinlan, 1976, 1979; Depressive Experiences Questionnaire for Adolescent [DEQ-A]; Blatt, Schaffer, Bers, & Quinlan, 1992) assesses 2 levels of interpersonal relatedness in young adults and older adolescents: neediness and relatedness. However, studies investigating the relation of the DEQ and DEQ-A with social functioning have not used the Neediness and Relatedness subscales of the Interpersonal Concerns factor. This study investigated (a) whether the Neediness and Relatedness subscales can be differentiated in a sample of early adolescents and (b) how the 2 subscales are differentially associated with indexes of social functioning. Results indicate that this differentiation of Neediness and Relatedness, and their associations with social functioning, emerges in early adolescence, especially for girls.     

Social anxiety and social adaptation among adolescents at three age levels

The aim of the study was to examine the relationship between social anxiety and social adaptation among adolescents. This is the first study to research these parameters among three age groups: early, middle and late adolescence. On the whole, a negative relation was found between social anxiety and social adaptation. Specifically, for adolescents aged 12?C13, social anxiety was positively associated with social rejection, and negatively associated with social acceptance and popularity. The same was true of adolescents aged 14?C15, but the correlations were lower. For late adolescents (aged 17?C18), social anxiety was not significantly correlated with any dimension of social adaptation. The results provide evidence that young adolescents (12?C13) suffer from higher levels of social anxiety than their older counterparts. The relation found between social anxiety and social adaptation may indicate that high levels of social anxiety may cause intense distress, which can be expected to impair adolescents?? social performance.     

Physical interpersonal relationships and social anxiety among online game players.

Many online game players spend inordinate amounts of time in their favorite virtual worlds. A large percentage of these players are teenagers who show behaviors normally associated with physical addiction. Parents, educators, and social scientists are therefore saying that online games are sources of social problems. The authors surveyed 174 Taiwanese college-age online players to collect data on the potential effects of online games on the quality of interpersonal relationships and levels of social anxiety. According to the results, the quality of interpersonal relationships decreased and the amount of social anxiety increased as the amount of time spent playing online games increased.     

Relations among loneliness, social anxiety, and problematic Internet use.

The model of problematic Internet use advanced and tested in the current study proposes that individuals' psychosocial well-being, along with their beliefs about interpersonal communication (both face-to-face and online) are important cognitive predictors of negative outcomes arising from Internet use. The study examined the extent to which social anxiety explains results previously attributed to loneliness as a predictor of preference for online social interaction and problematic Internet use. The results support the hypothesis that the relationship between loneliness and preference for online social interaction is spurious, and that social anxiety is the confounding variable.     

Stuttering and social anxiety

The aim of the present study was to investigate the presence of social anxiety in adults who stutter. This was done by administering the Inventory of Interpersonal Situations (IIS) (Van Dam-Baggen & Kraaimaat, 1999), a social anxiety inventory, to a group of 89 people who stuttered and 131 people who did not stutter. Two components of social anxiety were measured by the ISS, the extent to which emotional tension or discomfort is perceived in social situations and the frequency with which social responses are executed. The people who stuttered displayed significantly higher levels of emotional tension or discomfort in social situations. They also reported a significantly lower frequency of social responses compared to their nonstuttering peers. In addition, about 50% of the scores of the people who stuttered fell within the range of a group of highly socially anxious psychiatric patients. The results of the study suggest that the measurement of social anxiety is an important element in the assessment of adults who stutter. EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES: The reader will learn about and be able to describe (1) the IIS as an assessment procedure for evaluating social anxiety, (2) the level of discomfort expressed by adult stutterers in social situations, and (3) the effect of social anxiety on stutterers' responsiveness in social situations.     

Sex, ethnic, and social differences in test anxiety among Israeli adolescents

The effects of sex, ethnicity, and social class on levels of test anxiety were examined among a sample of 416 adolescent students in Israel. Significant sex differences in mean levels of test anxiety were found, with girls scoring consistently higher than boys across ethnic, social, and grade categories. Pupils of low socioeconomic status (SES) also scored consistently higher than pupils of high SES across grades. Nevertheless, this study provides little support for the commonly held view that sociocultural or sex group differences in school achievement are due, in any meaningful way, to differences in test anxiety. The group differences, though significant for SES and sex, were of negligible magnitude, and the correlation between test anxiety scores and grade point average was minimal for the group as a whole and nonsignificant for students of Eastern background, who have been purported to be particularly affected by high levels of test anxiety. The findings do support other cross-cultural studies, which have found only a modicum of shared variance between test anxiety and grades. It is concluded that test anxiety is not a particularly valid predictor of achievement or ability.     

Risk for separation anxiety disorder among girls: paternal absence, socioeconomic disadvantage, and genetic vulnerability

The authors examined genetic and environmental influences, including the contributions of 2 measured aspects of the shared environment of twins (paternal absence, socioeconomic disadvantage) on the development of mother-reported separation anxiety disorder (SAD) history in a sample of 1,887 female twin pairs. Four different symptom categories of SAD were considered. Results revealed that all 4 SAD symptom categories were significantly heritable, whereas the contribution of shared environmental influences to the variation in risk was significant for only 2 of the 4 SAD categories. Paternal absence was found to have an important influence in vulnerability for SAD, whereas the effect of socioeconomic disadvantage was less robust. Evidence for race differences in the etiology of SAD was not found.     

Developmental trajectories of anxiety symptoms among boys across early and middle childhood

This study examined the developmental trajectory of anxiety symptoms among 290 boys and evaluated the association of trajectory groups with child and family risk factors and children's internalizing disorders. Anxiety symptoms were measured using maternal reports from the Child Behavior Checklist (T. M. Achenbach, 1991, 1992) for boys between the ages of 2 and 10. A group-based trajectory analysis revealed 4 distinct trajectories in the development of anxiety symptoms: low, low increasing, high declining, and high-increasing trajectories. Child shy temperament tended to differentiate between initial high and low groups, whereas maternal negative control and maternal depression were associated with increasing trajectories and elevated anxiety symptoms in middle childhood. Follow-up analyses to diagnoses of preadolescent depression and/or anxiety disorders revealed different patterns on the basis of trajectory group membership. The results are discussed in terms of the mechanisms of risk factors and implications for early identification and prevention.     

Negative self-imagery in social anxiety contaminates social interactions

Patients with social phobia report experiencing negative images of themselves performing poorly when in feared social situations. The present study investigates whether such negative self-imagery (based on memory of past social situations) contaminates social interactions. High socially anxious volunteers participated in two conversations with another volunteer (conversational partner). During one conversation, the socially anxious volunteers held in mind a negative self-image, and during the other they held in mind a less negative (control) self-image. As predicted, when holding the negative image the socially anxious volunteers felt more anxious, reported using more safety behaviours, believed that they performed more poorly, and showed greater overestimation of how poorly they came across (relative to ratings by the conversational partner). Conversational partners rated the socially anxious volunteers' performance as poorer in the negative image condition. Furthermore, the conversation was contaminated since both groups of participants rated its quality as poorer in the negative image condition.     

Boys and girls as social support theorists

Interviews were conducted with 36 children (6 girls and 6 boys at each of three age levels: 7, 10, and 13) to explore gender differences in the perceived costs and benefits of seeking social support from the social network. Each child was asked why children in five hypothetical situations would or would not turn to others. Content analysis of the interview protocols revealed that boys and girls did speak about the goals and concerns of children in distinctive ways. Girls were more likely than boys to describe children as seeking practical help from others, but were also more likely to envision children who were too overcome with emotion to confide in others or who desired to be alone to work out their own responses to the situation. The findings are discussed in light of gender role norms concerning interpersonal connection and emotional expression.     

Post-event processing in social anxiety

A psychometric study was conducted in order to collect basic information about post-event processing in social anxiety. It was found that such processing occurs commonly after an anxiety-evoking or embarrassing social event and post-event processing scores were significantly correlated (r = 0.40) with social anxiety. The recollections of the social event tended to be recurrent and intrusive, interfering with concentration. Post-event processing was associated with the avoidance of similar social situations. The results are discussed in terms of the Clark and Wells model of social phobia.