SOCIAL ANXIETY IN CHILDREN: EXPLORING INSECURE ATTACHMENT AND PARENTAL BEHAVIORS IN THE CONSTELLATION OF SOCIETAL AND CULTURAL MODERATORS

Abstract

The associations between insecure attachment, negative parental behaviors, and social anxiety in childhood and adolescence have long been established theoretically and documented by empirical research. Still, it is clear that those associations operate through various moderators that should be addressed, among which are societal, economical, and cultural variables whose effect can be neither ignored nor overlooked. The vicissitudes of individual psychological development are shaped by environments, both physical and symbolic, in which those individuals are embedded: indeed, the cross-cultural studies that compared between Western and non-Western samples consistently reveal interrelatedness between secure/insecure attachments, parenting practices, and socioeconomic and cultural influences. In the light of the above, the present article addresses the interplay between insecure attachment, parental behaviors, and social anxiety in children as a multi-layered constellation of risk-factors which are informed by the broad network of socioeconomic and cultural dimensions. The integrative review of extensive body of literature demonstrates that this constellation cannot be complete without elucidating the role of fathers in parenting that may contribute to developing social anxiety, as well as without taking into consideration characteristics of cultures and society which shape and inform both parental practices and their perceptions.