The effects of negative rumination on social anxiety

Abstract

The effect of negative rumination on social anxiety was investigated. In addition, since Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) patients also exhibit a high degree of comorbidity with mood disorders, therefore we also discussed the relation between SAD and depression. Participants were 343 undergraduate students who completed a set of question naires consisting of the Social Avoidance and Distress Scale (SADS), the Short Fear of Negative Evaluation scale (SFNE), the Negative Rumination Scale (NRS), and the Self-rating Depression Scale (SDS). The results showed a moderate positive correlation between SADS, SFNE, NRS, and SDS (p<.01). After controlling for SDS, there remained a significant correlation between SADS, SFNE, and NRS (p<.01). Results of path analysis indicated the validity of the negative rumination model of social anxiety (GFI=.999, AGFI=.989, RMSEA=.001). Furthermore, all path coefficients were significant (p<.001), suggesting that negative rumination enhanced social anxiety and depression. These findings implicated the effect of negative rumination in reinforcing SAD. The possibility of interventions to prevent negative rumination in SAD treatment was discussed.