Social Anxiety and Peer Relations Among Adolescents: Testing a Psychobiological Model

Abstract

This study tested hypotheses derived from Trower and Gilbert’s (1989) model of social anxiety. Participants were 1,179 students (594 males and 585 females) in grades 6, 7, 8, 9, and 11. Participants completed the Social Anxiety Scale for Adolescents and a sociometric nomination task. Nominations from the following behavioral descriptors: most cooperative, class leader, fights the most, and easiest to push around, were used to classify students into four peer nomination groups (i.e., cooperative, friendly dominant, hostile dominant, and submissive). Results indicated that students classified as submissive reported greater social anxiety than those classified as cooperative, friendly dominant, and hostile dominant. Implications of these results for further study of the Trower and Gilbert (1989) model of social anxiety are discussed.