Abstract
Pathways to social anxiety often reflect a set of complex and interacting factors that include both intrinsic and environmental factors. Theoretical models of social anxiety have highlighted that children and adolescents’ peer experiences can increase risk for social anxiety. This systematic review explored the role of peers in the development of social anxiety in adolescent girls. It aimed to identify peer-related risk factors (i.e., peer acceptance, peer attachment, friendship quality, peer support, and victimisation) that place adolescents at risk for social anxiety, and to highlight those that are specific to girls. The findings showed that while low peer acceptance was significantly associated with increased social anxiety for boys and girls, limited close friendships, negative friendship experiences and relational victimisation were highlighted as risk factors specific to girls. The review suggested that researchers might usefully start to develop frameworks that capture generic, as well as gender-specific risk for social anxiety in adolescence. These will enable the development of prevention and intervention methods to support girls at increased risk and that focus on improving the quality of peer relationships.
Highlights
Anxiety is a feeling of worry or fear that occurs in response to the anticipation of future threat (American Psychiatric Association; APA 2013)
This study suggested that peer support is an important protective factor, and if adolescents experience a greater decline in support over time, they may be placed at increased risk of social anxiety
The aim of this review was to collate the available empirical literature to further our understanding of risk factors in the development of social anxiety that are common to both genders, and specific to adolescent girls
Summary
Anxiety is a feeling of worry or fear that occurs in response to the anticipation of future threat (American Psychiatric Association; APA 2013). In a survey of mental health of UK children and adolescents, Green et al Goodman (2005) found that approximately 4% of adolescent boys and 5% of girls had a clinically recognised anxiety disorder. Anxiety in adolescence was found to be strongly associated with adverse outcomes at age 30, with adolescent anxiety significantly predicting poorer adjustment in adulthood, lower life satisfaction, poor coping skills and high chronic stress (Essau et al 2014). Gender differences exist such that adolescent girls are at increased risk of developing anxiety disorders than boys (Essau et al 2014). There is a paucity of research that aims to understand gender-specific risk factors in the development of clinical levels of anxiety
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