The Impact of Perceived Standards on State Anxiety, Appraisal Processes, and Negative Pre- and Post-event Rumination in Social Anxiety Disorder

Abstract

Cognitive models emphasise the importance of pre- and post-event rumination as maintaining factors of Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD), however, there is limited research investigating pre-event rumination. This study aims to examine several key hypotheses posited by the cognitive models by experimentally manipulating social standards in order to examine the impact of high and low perceived social standards on appraisal processes, state anxiety, and negative rumination, and to determine if the predictors of pre-event rumination will mirror those of post-event rumination. The sample consisted of 91 participants, including 46 participants with SAD and 45 non-anxious controls. Socially anxious participants in this study engaged in more pre- and post-event rumination, had higher threat appraisals, and lower self-appraisals of performance than non-anxious controls. Socially anxious participants who believed that they were expected to perform to a high standard in anticipation of a speech task reported poorer ratings of self-efficacy than socially anxious participants in the low standard condition and non-anxious controls. Additionally, whilst anticipated self-appraisals of performance, threat appraisal, self-efficacy, and state anxiety were predictive of pre-event rumination, threat appraisal was the only significant predictor of post-event rumination. This study extends the current knowledge of the cognitive processes within SAD, which has clinical implications.