Relationships between core-beliefs, bivalent fear of evaluation, and social anxiety symptoms: a structural equation model

Abstract

ABSTRACT Objective It is increasingly recognised that social anxiety is underpinned by a bivalent fear of evaluation. The present study tested how well a core-beliefs measure developed for social anxiety was accounted for within this bivalent model. It was hypothesised that bivalent fear of evaluation would predict more variance in social anxiety symptoms than negative alone, and that known core beliefs would predict fear of negative more than fear of positive evaluation. Method An online survey was completed by 346 undergraduates who were recruited in exchange for course credit, through a targeted strategy that ensured that they experienced social anxiety symptoms. The survey was completed on Qualtrics, with all questions appearing in a standardised order. Results The hypothesised model explained 45.4% of social anxiety symptom variance. Core-beliefs explained unique variance in fear of positive and negative evaluation but had a larger relationship with fear of negative evaluation. Conclusions These results suggest that different core-beliefs underpin fear of positive and negative evaluation. Better knowledge of the core-beliefs underpinning fear of positive evaluation may inform the development of more effective psychological treatments