Social anxiety in children

Abstract

Orphanhood is one of the major problems in Russia. According to 2010 data there are about 700 thousand orphaned children in Russia (Rudov, Mityasova, & Katyushkina, 2011). majority of them live in various kinds of orphanages. This experience has a negative influence on children's development. emotional sphere is the first to suffer in children living in orphanages (Avdeeva, 2009; Bowlby, 2004; Chuprova, 2007; Lisina, 2009). For a long time it was thought that psychological disorders identified in orphans were connected with bad social conditions (such as insufficient medical care or a limited-information environment). These factors are of course important to the development of a child; however the main reason for psychological problems in orphans is not the quality of their living conditions. J. Bowlby and R. A. Spitz showed the importance of maternal care for the child's development. Based on their work it was possible to establish the importance of a close emotional connection with the mother (or the significant adult figure) (Bowlby, 2004; Spitz, 2001). If this connection is missing, maternal deprivation occurs. This is one of the factors that lead to the development of emotional disorders. Orphans have difficulty identifying and understanding emotions and expressing their own emotions; they are characterized by lack of a clearly formed self-image and low self-esteem (Avdeeva, 2009; Chuprova, 2007; Prihozhan & Tolstyh, 2007; Zalysina & Smirnova, 1985). Living outside a family and having a deficit in communication with significant adult figures lead to scarceness of communication skills, difficulties in social-role identification, problems in gender-identity formation, and distorted images of parent-child relationships (Chuprova, 2007; Prihozhan & Tolstyh, 2007; Romanovskiy, 2009; Zalysina & Smirnova, 1985). Many researchers have identified a deficit in creative activities and cognitive motivation (Bozhovich, 2008; Prihozhan & Tolstyh, 2007).Thus, living in orphanages decreases the ability of orphans to adapt to and interact with the world and other people. A deficit of behavior strategies that help adaptation may lead to social anxiety in orphaned children. Studying the characteristics of emotional development of orphaned children and teenagers -- for example, the display of social anxiety -- will allow us to find ways of adapting them to society.Social anxietyUp to the present time the social-anxiety phenomenon has rarely been studied in Russia. Among studies dedicated to this topic one can highlight the research of I.V. Nikitina and A.B. Kholmogorova (Nikitina & Kholmogorova, 2010) and of V.V. Krasnova (Krasnova & Kholmogorova, 2011). The term social anxiety is understood as a type of anxiety which is triggered by various kinds of situations involving social interactions (Nikitina & Kholmogorova, 2010, 80). When people with a high level of social anxiety connect with other people, they experience emotional discomfort and feel anxious about the impression they are making and about how they look in the eyes of others. mildest form of social anxiety is shyness (Zimbardo, 1991). most severe form of social anxiety is social phobia, which is identified as a separate diagnostic category in DSM-IV and ICD-10.Research has shown that social anxiety in teenagers and adults may be connected to suicidal ideation, substance abuse aimed at alleviating the psychological state, and depressive states (Beidel & Turner, 1998, in Nikitina & Kholmogorova, 2011, 82.). A tendency to decrease the frequency of social contacts may lead to a decrease in educational and professional activities and to the deterioration of the quality of interpersonal relationships, sometimes even to social isolation. Research done by Zimbardo (1991) shows that shy children and students are less likely than children and students who are not shy to initiate a conversation, more likely to experience difficulties in ambiguous social situations (where there are no regulations, instructions, or rules), and more likely to be unable to ask for help. …