Abstract
Purpose: Socially anxious people are typically thought of as being behaviorally inhibited; however, an atypical subgroup, which is impulsive rather than inhibited, has recently been identified [1]. Theoretically, inhibition and impulsivity could be viewed as different strategies for coping with anxiety that have the same goal—escape from negative emotions—but they seem to have different implications. Previous studies have found that the socially anxious-impulsive subgroup was higher on risk-prone behavior, as for example drug use, compared with a socially anxious-inhibited subgroup [1]. In this study, we aimed to identify these subgroups in a general population, and asked whether they also experience various levels of depressive symptoms and life satisfaction, as well as moderating effects of gender. Methods: Cluster analysis was used to identify subgroups of young adults (20 - 24 years old; N = 772) characterized by different profiles of social anxiety and impulsivity. These subgroups were compared on levels of internal adjustment, and the moderating effects of gender were also tested. Results: We identified five clusters, including an Anxious-Inhibited and an Anxious-Impulsive cluster. In the interaction between gender and cluster membership, gender showed evidence of moderation regarding both depressive symptoms and life satisfaction, with the young women in the Anxious-Inhibited and the Anxious-Impulsive clusters faring worst. Conclusions: We replicated previous findings demonstrating the existence of a socially anxious-impulsive subgroup, thus solidifying current knowledge that may be important when it comes to diagnostics and treatment. This may prove particularly important for young women regarding internalizing symptoms.
Highlights
Anxious people are typically thought of as being behaviorally inhibited and avoiding anxiety-provoking social situations
We aimed to identify these subgroups in a general population, and asked whether they experience various levels of depressive symptoms and life satisfaction, as well as moderating effects of gender
What could be the reasons for this atypical pattern of characteristics, and what does it imply for the life experiences and adaptation of socially anxious individuals?
Summary
Anxious people are typically thought of as being behaviorally inhibited and avoiding anxiety-provoking social situations. This subgroup of socially anxious people appear to be impulsive [1,2,3]. Inhibition and impulsivity can be seen as different strategies for coping with social anxiety. These strategies have the same function—allowing the person to escape from unpleasant inner experiences such as intense negative emotions. According to Kashdan and colleagues [1], the impulsive strategy might occur for socially anxious people who regularly expose themselves to highly anxiety-provoking situations, exhausting their ability to control the natural tendency to escape [see 4]. The result is an increase in automatic, impulsive behavior If this is the case, it could have implications for different forms of adaptation. The implications for external adjustment among socially anxious-impulsive people have been shown for risk-prone behaviors such as unsafe sex and drug use [1,2,3], but internal adjustment might be affected as well
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