Interaction Anxiety Research Articles

Threat‐induced anxiety and selfishness in resource sharing: Behavioral and neural evidence

In real life, it is not unusual that we face potential threats (i.e., physical stimuli and environments that may cause harm or danger) with other individuals together, yet it remains largely unknown how threat-induced anxious feelings influence prosocial behaviors such as resource sharing. In this study, we investigated this question by combining functional magnetic resonance imaging and a novel paradigm. Together with an anonymous partner, each participant faced the possibility of receiving a 10-s noise administration, which had a low or high probability to be a threat (i.e., the intensity of noise can induce a high level of unpleasantness). Each participant first reported her/his immediate feeling of anxiety about the current situation (being threatened by the unpleasant noise), then decided how to split a number of resources (which could relieve the noise) between her/him and the partner. Behavioral results revealed that the participants showed a selfish bias in the threat conditions than in the safe conditions, and that self-reported anxiety feeling significantly predicted this bias. Functional magnetic resonance imaging results revealed that: (1) the activation level of the anterior insula was correlated with self-reported anxiety and (2) the connectivity between the anterior insula and the temporoparietal junction was sensitive to the modulating effect of anxiety on the selfish bias. These findings indicate the neural correlates of the association between threat-induced anxiety and prosocial tendencies in social interactions.

Social interaction anxiety, social phobia, and cognitive control: controlled reactions to facial affect during an emotional face flanker task

Trait social anxiety may predict differences in the cognitive control of emotional distraction when emotional face discrimination is required. This effect can be investigated using an emotional face flanker task. This study addresses an important research gap, as previous studies did not separate the effects of trait social interaction anxiety from the effects of trait social phobia upon emotional face flanker task performance. In this laboratory based behavioural experiment, the 87 participants (mean age 24.3) were university students or staff recruited via departmental adverts. We used an emotional (happy versus fearful) face flanker task, and assessed sub-clinical social anxiety with the SIAS/SPS. Elevated trait social phobia was related to an increased reaction time (RT) congruency effect, whereas trait social interaction anxiety was not. Elevated trait social interaction anxiety was related to a decreased happy face RT advantage for central target faces, but the effect of trait social phobia was very weak. Trait social interaction anxiety and trait social phobia may predict subtle differences when the cognitive control of reactions to emotional facial expressions is required.

Virtual reality acceptance and commitment therapy intervention for social and public speaking anxiety: A randomized controlled trial

Virtual reality (VR) offers new and flexible ways to provide psychological interventions. The aim of this study was to develop and investigate the effectiveness of a VR intervention based on acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) for social and public speaking anxiety. ACT is a process-based approach that aims to (a) increase individuals’ abilities to handle difficult emotional and cognitive experiences and (b) develop the motivation required for change to occur. In this study, a sample of university students with social interaction or communication anxiety (N = 76; age M = 24.95, SD = 6.50, 69.7% females) was blindly randomized into a total of 2 h of VR ACT training (VRACT; n = 37) or a waiting list control (WLC; n = 39) group. The VRACT group was gradually exposed to social situations using a VR head-mounted display (HMD) and received audio-recorded ACT-based instructions aimed at increasing psychological flexibility. The outcome measurements included self-reported social and communication anxiety, well-being, psychological processes, and behavioral measures. At the final feedback meeting held one week after attending three VR sessions, we observed a significant decrease in social and communication anxiety (d = 0.55–0.61) and a significant improvement in psychological flexibility (d = 0.61), with moderate effect sizes. These findings contribute to advancing knowledge of how ACT can be efficaciously delivered using VR to improve mental health outcomes for university students with social anxiety.

The Mediating Role of Emotion Regulation Strategies in the Relationship of Beliefs about Emotion and Emotion Regulation Self-Efficacy with Social Anxiety

Objective: According to cognitive models, maladaptive beliefs play a major role in social anxiety disorder and can lead to dysfunctional behavioral reactions and emotion dysregulation. This study examines the mediating role of emotion regulation strategies in the relationship of beliefs about emotions and emotion regulation self-efficacy with social anxiety. Method: 650 college students from Yazd University (Iran) were selected by cluster sampling and filled out the Implicit Theories of Emotion Scale (ITES; 2007), Regulatory Emotional Self-Efficacy scale (RESE; 1999), Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (SIAS; 1992), and the short-form Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ; 2002). Results: The initially hypothesized model had a poor fit. By merging the manifest variables of refocus on planning with reappraisal, refocusing with putting into perspective (for adaptive emotion regulation), and combining rumination and catastrophizing (for maladaptive emotion regulation), the fit of the model became optimal, and all the direct paths became significant. The final model was a partial mediation model, confirming the mediating role of adaptive and maladaptive emotion regulation strategies in the relationship of beliefs about emotions and emotion regulation self-efficacy with social anxiety. Conclusion: The results showed that beliefs about emotions affect the utilization of efficient emotion regulation strategies and can be a risk factor for social anxiety.

Effects of Social Anxiety Level on Negative Interpretation Bias in Ambiguous Social Situations: Focused on Relational Intimacy

Background: This study aimed to examine the differences in negative interpretation bias in ambiguous social situations according to social anxiety level and then confirm the degree of negative interpretation bias according to the relational intimacy with the interacting partner.Methods: A total of 405 adults in their 20s completed the surveys that measured the levels of social interaction anxiety, and the highest 10% (n=30) and lowest 10% (n=30) scorers finally participated in the study. This study used a 2 (high/low social anxiety)×3 (relational intimacy: a stranger/a moderately intimate person/a very intimate person) factorial design. The study provided participants with 15 randomized scenarios with the same social context but different interacting partners and confirmed the degree of agreement with the negative interpretation presented in each situation.Results: The high social anxiety group showed more negative interpretation bias in ambiguous social situations compared to the low social anxiety group. Regarding the negative interpretation biases according to relational intimacy, the high social anxiety group showed the most negative interpretation bias in social interactions with a moderately intimate person than they did with a stranger or very intimate person.Conclusions: Social anxiety may have different effects on the degree of negative interpretation bias depending on intimacy in social interactions, suggesting that differentiated therapeutic interventions are needed.

경험회피와 사회불안 간의 관계에 안전행동이 미치는 매개효과

Objectives The present study aimed to examine whether safety behavior mediates the effect of experiential avoidance on social anxiety. Methods 352 undergraduate students were recruited both online and offline to complete a questionnaire including a Social Phobia Scale(SPS), Social Interaction Anxiety Scale(SIAS), Korean version of the Multidimensional experiential avoidance questionnaire(K-MEAQ-24), and Subtle Avoidance Frequency Examination(SAFE). Results As a result of correlation analysis, there was a significant positive correlation between experience avoidance, safety behavior, and social anxiety, and the normality of the distribution was confirmed when examining the skewness and kurtosis of major variables. In addition, when verifying the measurement model through the structural equation, the model-fit was appropriate, and the factor load of all measurement variables was significant. After that, a complete mediation competitive model was assumed and compared with the partial mediation model, a chi-square difference test result showed a significant difference, and a larger explanatory research model was adopted, that is, subtle safety behavior mediated the relationship between experience avoidance and social anxiety. Conclusions Results suggest that unwillingness to experience distressful thoughts and emotions leads to dependence on avoidance behavior. Moreover, the unwillingness might increase anxiety which the individual feels in social performance and interactive situations.

The Relationship of Alexithymia with Social Phobia among Female Students at the University of Hafr Al-Batin

Objectives: This study aimed to identify the relationship of alexithymia with social phobia among a sample of female students at the University of Hafr Al-Batin.
 Methods: The descriptive correlative approach was used in this study to reveal the relationship of alexithymia with social phobia among a sample of female students at the University of Hafr Al-Batin, consisting of (200) female university students from various disciplines and academic levels, where the Social Anxiety Scale (SAS) consisted of (24) items distributed on (3) main dimensions: interaction anxiety, performance anxiety, and evaluation anxiety. And the alexithymia scale (Tas20) consisted of (15) items divided into (3) dimensions: the difficulty of recognizing feelings, the difficulty of describing feelings, and externally directed thinking were used in this study.
 Results: The results of the study indicated the existence of a positive relationship between alexithymia and social phobia among female students at the University of Hafr Al-Batin, where the relationship ratio between them was (0.614), The explained difference in the relationship between the two measures was (0.38), which is a ratio that indicates the percentage of explaining the variance in the relationship between the two measures.
 Conclusions: Conducting more studies about alexithymia and its relationship to other variables (such as psychological adjustment, and psychological hardness), conducting more studies on other samples, and measuring the effect of accompanying variables such as gender, age, academic level, etc., in addition to applying other measures of social phobia and alexithymia to reveal the extent to which the variables relate to each other.

The impact of adolescent achievement goal orientation on learning anxiety: The mediation effect of peer interaction.

Learning anxiety is one of the most critical emotional disturbances, which also has a high incidence rate in adolescents. Peer interaction is critical and unique for adolescents. Although previous studies have found that achievement goal orientation has an important role in the development of learning anxiety, its mechanism has not been clarified. This study surveyed 470 adolescents (191 middle school students and 279 high school students; 211 boys) and established a structural equation model to explore the mediating role of peer interaction in the influence of achievement goal orientation on learning anxiety. Results showed that (1) there were significant gender differences in mastery-avoidance goal orientation, peer interaction, and learning anxiety, and there were grade differences in performance-approach goal and performance-avoidance goal orientations; (2) mastery-approach, mastery-avoidance, and performance-avoidance goal orientations directly predicted learning anxiety; and (3) social anxiety in peer interactions had a mediating effect on the influence of mastery-approach, mastery-avoidance, and performance-avoidance goal orientations on learning anxiety. The findings extend theoretical considerations by teasing out the process of peer interaction affecting the relationship between achievement goal orientation and learning anxiety. Additionally, the results have practical implications for the effective use of peer interaction to reduce learning anxiety.

Depressive mood and compulsive social media usage: the mediating roles of contingent self-esteem and social interaction fears

PurposeGiven the limited literature on depression as a contributing factor to compulsive social media use, the present research examines the role of perceived depressive mood (PDM) in developing compulsive social media use behavior. The authors also identify and hypothesize channels such as contingent self-esteem (CSE), social interaction anxiety (SIA) and fear of negative evaluation (FNE), which may explain how PDM affects compulsive social media use.Design/methodology/approachThe research model was empirically tested with a survey of 367 Chinese university students using structural equation modeling by drawing on the escape and self-presentation lenses.FindingsThe findings indicate that PDM contributes to compulsive social media use behavior both directly and indirectly through CSE. Furthermore, the impact of CSE on compulsive social media use is mediated by the FNE, whereas SIA fails to mediate this effect.Practical implicationsThe results can advance the authors’ knowledge of the role and process by which depressive mood impacts compulsive social media use. These findings may add insights into psychological treatment and help in, for example, developing counseling programs or coping strategies for depressed people to protect them from using social media excessively.Originality/valueThis research identifies the pathway mechanism between PDM and compulsive use of social media. It also increases the understanding of how CSE and social interaction deficiencies contribute to compulsive social media usage (CSMU).

The Moderating Role of Gender in the Relationship between Nomophobia and Social Interaction Anxiety in University Students

Nomophobia is defined as the fear that an individual experiences related to lack of access or use of their smartphone. Studies have reported significant differences on the effects of nomophobia between genders. Moreover, social interaction anxiety is a condition identified as a risk factor for future health problems among university students. The aim of this study is to examine the moderating effect of gender in the relationship between nomophobia and social interaction anxiety. The study’s data were collected from 331 university students aged 19 to 42. The study tested the moderating effect of gender in the predictor effect of social interaction anxiety on various nomophobia sub-dimensions. Social interaction anxiety had a significant predictor effect of college students’ “inability to access information” and “inability to communicate,” but this effect did not vary by gender. On the other hand, the predictor effect of social interaction anxiety on “giving up convenience” and “losing connectedness” did vary by gender.

Mediation effect of cognitive flexibility between fear of negative evaluation and interaction anxiety

Mediation effect of cognitive flexibility between fear of negative evaluation and interaction anxiety

Effects of Stress, Social Support, Experience of Shame, and Loss of Face on Mental Health of Chinese Immigrant Mothers of Children with Developmental Disabilities in Canada

Social factors such as stress and social support impact mental health and might be associated with cultural factors such as feelings of shame and loss of face. Methods: This quantitative study examined sixty-five Chinese immigrant mothers of children with developmental disabilities (DDs) from the Great Toronto Area in Canada. Data was gathered through the following scales: Parental Stress Index-short Form, Oslo Social Support scale, Experience of Shame Scale, Loss of Face Questionnaire, Social Interaction Anxiety Scale and Social Phobia Scale, Center for Epidemiologic Studies Short Depression Scale, and General Self-efficacy Scale. Findings: Correlational analyses confirmed that shame was positively correlated significantly with loss of face (r=.43**), social anxiety (r=.62**), social phobia (r=.38**), and depression (r=.66**). Social support was negatively correlated significantly with depression (r=-.28**), self-efficacy was negatively correlated with social phobia (r=-.21**). Loss of face was positively correlated significantly with anxiety (r=.36**) and depression (r=.43**). Regression analyses indicated that shame (Z= 4.44***) and loss of face (Z= 2.36*) were the strongest mediators of effects of anxiety on mothers’ depression. Discussion: Implications are discussed with regard to providing efficient services for the families with their specific cultural backgrounds and optimizing their mental health and well-being. Conclusions: These empirical findings confirmed that Chinese immigrant mothers of children with DDs experienced more depression, when they had more feelings of shame, loss of face, and anxieties. This study highlighted the impact of social and cultural factors on the mental health of Chinese immigrant mothers of children with DDs.

Does the Power of Social Example Fade? Nudge Effect of Social Information on Individual's Donation Behaviors During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Moderated Mediation Model with Three-Wave Cross-Sectional Data.

This study assesses how various social information influence individuals' money donation behaviors towards charitable funds against the COVID-19 pandemic at different stages of the pandemic. It also explores the mediating role of social anxiety and the moderating role of self-control. This three-wave study was conducted with online survey experiments using convenience sampling at the pandemic's outbreak stage (April-June 2020), trough stage (February-March 2021), and resurgence stage (May 2022) in China. The nudge power of social information was measured by whether participants changed their initial money donation decisions after informed positive or negative social information. Self-report scales were used to measure levels of social anxiety (Social Interaction Anxiety Scale) and self-control (Self-Control Scale). The final data set included 1371 participants from 26 provinces of mainland China. Stata medeff package and SPSS PROCESS were used to analyze the data. Individuals' initial donation behaviors did not fluctuate along with the pandemic status, but the nudge effect of social information did. From outbreak stage to trough stage, the nudge power of positive social information significantly declined, but did not significantly change again at the resurgence stage. By contrast, the nudge power of negative social information did not significantly differ between outbreak and trough stage but did significantly increase at the resurgence stage. Social anxiety played a significant mediating role in the relationship between COVID-19 status and power of social information. Moreover, self-control moderated the direct effect of COVID-19 status on power of social information and the indirect effect via social anxiety. Our findings enrich research on the nudge power variation of social information on individuals' donation behaviors along with the pandemic status and its potential psychological influence factors. This study also helps guide organizations to better design and carry out social information nudge mechanism.

자기회귀 교차지연 모형을 적용한 사회적 상호작용 불안과 우울의 관계

Objectives The purposes of current study was to examine the longitudinal mediation effects of avoidance behaviour and positive affect in the relationship between social interaction anxiety and depression.
 Methods Considering the longitudinal design of this study, an online survey was presented four times in three weeks. And Social Interaction Anxeity Scale(SIAS), Liebowitx Social Anxiety Scale(LSAS), Positive Affect and Negative Affect Scale(PANAS), The Center for Epidemiologiacl Studies Depression Scale(CES-D) are used for measurement. Also, The mediating effect was examined through Autoregressive Cross-Lagged Modeling Analysis for 201 college students(male 52 and female 149) who participated in all measurement periods.
 Results First, social anxiety, avoidance behaviour, positive affect and depression was stable over time. Second, the longitudinal effects among all the variables were statistically significant, except for the effect of the avoidance behaviour on positive affect. Third, while the avoidance behaviour and positive affect displayed partial mediation effects in the relationship between social anxiety and depression, the sequential mediation effects of avoidance behaviour and positive affect were not statistically significant.
 Conclusions The results of this study are significant in that verified the mediation effects of avoidance behaviour and positive emotions in the relationship between social interaction anxiety and depression through short-term longitudinal design. Also, this study suggests that therapeutic intervention aimed at reducing avoidance behavior or increasing positive emotional experience in people suffering from social anxiety disorders is an important factor to be considered to prevent the onset of depression in the future.

대학생의 행동억제가 사회불안에 미치는 영향

Objectives This study set a structural model that behavioral inhibition and social anxiety were sequentially mediated by fear of positive evaluation and negative interpretation of positive events and examined the goodness of fit and the mediating effect of the model.
 Methods A total of 295 undergraduate students in Gyeonggi-do participated in this study and completed a measure of Retrospective Self-Report of Inhibition, Fear of Positive Evaluation Scale, Interpretation of Positive Events Scale, Social Interaction Anxiety Scale, Social Phobia Scale.
 Results First, correlation analysis showed that behavioral inhibition, fear of positive evaluation, negative interpretation of positive events and social anxiety were significantly and positively correlated with each other. Second, fear of positive evaluation and negative interpretation of positive events sequentially mediated the relationship between behavioral inhibition and social anxiety. Third, there was a gender difference in the path of fear of positive evaluation and social anxiety. It was confirmed that when the fear of positive evaluation affected social anxiety, the influence could be greater in men than in women.
 Conclusions This study is meaningful in that it explained the occurrence and maintenance of social anxiety from an integrated perspective, including behavioral inhibition, which is a temperamental vulnerability that could affect cognitive vulnerabilities such as fear of positive evaluation and negative interpretation of positive events. In addition, there were gender differences in some paths in the research model, so based on this future research was discussed.

Tweet you right back: Follower anxiety predicts leader anxiety in social media interactions during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.

Recent research has shown that organizational leaders' tweets can influence employee anxiety. In this study, we turn the table and examine whether the same can be said about followers' tweets. Based on emotional contagion and a dataset of 108 leaders and 178 followers across 50 organizations, we infer and track state- and trait-anxiety scores of participants over 316 days, including pre- and post the onset of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and crisis. We show that although leaders traditionally possess greater authority and power than their followers, followers have the power to influence their leaders' state anxiety. In addition, this influence is particularly strong in the case of less trait anxious leaders.

Impact of Teachers' Post-Traumatic Stress Due to Violence Victimization: Moderated Mediation Effect of Living a Calling.

Based on the Affective Events Theory, Work as a Calling Theory, and related studies, this research examined the moderated mediating effects of Living a Calling and the mediating effect of social interaction anxiety and psychological burnout on the relationships between post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms consequent to violence victimization, self-destructive behaviors, and turnover intention. Data from 420 Korean elementary and secondary school teachers were analyzed using the moderated mediation model. The analysis revealed that post-traumatic stress disorder caused by violence victimization positively affected self-destructive behavior and turnover intention through the sequential mediation of social interaction anxiety and psychological burnout. Further, Living a Calling moderated the indirect effect of violence victimization; the stronger the Living-a-Calling experience, the greater the indirect effect of violence victimization on turnover intention. Additionally, when the sense of Living a Calling was low, post-traumatic stress disorder caused by violence did not significantly affect turnover intention through social interaction anxiety, but contrary to expectations, the stronger the sense of Living a Calling, the more positive the mediating effect of social interaction anxiety. Therapeutic interventions in teachers' work environment, improvements, and suggestions for future research are discussed.

The effect of seamless nursing combined with Roy adaptive psychological nursing on self-efficacy and bad mood of patients after acute abdomen surgery.

To explore the effect of seamless nursing combined with Roy adaptive psychological nursing on self-efficacy and bad mood of patients after acute abdomen surgery. According to the digital table method, 120 patients with acute abdomen who were treated and nursed in our hospital from June 2019 to June 2021 were selected as prospective research objects, and they were divided into a control group and an observation group with 60 cases each. Among them, the control group carried out seamless nursing, and the observation group carried out Roy adaptive psychological nursing on this basis, and compared the effects of self-efficacy, nursing ability and bad mood of the 2 groups of patients after surgery. Before nursing, the self-efficacy scale, quality of life scores, nursing ability scores, as well as bad mood were not statistically significant between the 2 groups ( P > .05). After nursing, the self-efficacy scale and nursing ability scores in the observation group were significantly higher than that in the control group ( P < .05); the social interaction score, anxiety score and depression score were significantly lower than that in the control group ( P < .001). Seamless nursing combined with Roy adaptive psychological nursing can effectively improve the quality of life of patients after acute abdomen surgery, reduce unhealthy emotions, and improve the nursing ability and self-efficacy of patients after surgery. It has a certain reference for the nursing of patients after acute abdomen surgery.

The Role of Restrictive Emotionality and Social Interaction Anxiety in the Association Between Muscle Dysmorphic Disorder and Masculine Depression

Muscle dysmorphic disorder (MDD) is a mental disorder characterized by men’s exaggerated self-perception as insufficiently muscular and lean and pathological preoccupation with achieving a muscular body. MDD has been recognized as a risk factor associated with negative mental health outcomes in men. However, previous studies did not sufficiently explore the link between MDD and masculine depression. Therefore, the present study examines the mediating role of social interaction anxiety and the moderating role of restrictive emotionality in the relationship between MDD and masculine depression. Structured questionnaires were distributed online among 849 Israeli men. The moderated mediation analysis indicated that a positive association between MDD and masculine depression was moderated by restrictive emotionality and partially mediated by social interaction anxiety. These findings have profound meaning in terms of the psychosocial aspects of men’s lives, underlining the risk factors inherent in the association between men’s dissatisfaction with their body and their mental health.

Development of social anxiety cognition scale for college students: Basing on Hofmann's model of social anxiety disorder.

To develop the Chinese version of the Social Anxiety Cognition Scale for College Students (SACS-CS) based on Hofmann's model of social anxiety disorder and examine its reliability and validity. Based on literature analysis and structured interviews, a theoretical model was constructed and behavioral examples were collected. According to the results of participants' and experts' evaluations, the initial SACS-CS was developed. The study data were collected from a total of 500 valid participants, randomly divided into two samples. Sample 1 (n = 200) and sample 2 (n = 300) were considered for exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), respectively. Internal reliability and validity were examined using all 500 participants, and temporal reliability was established using sample 3 (n = 70), who completed the scale again after 4 weeks. The SACS-CS consists of 21 items, grouped under four factors: self-perception, social skills, emotional control, and cost estimation. The four-factor model fits well. The internal consistency coefficient of the scale and the four factors ranged from 0.87 to 0.96, and the test-retest reliability ranged from 0.76 to 0.84. The scores of the scale and the four factors were significantly correlated with the score of the Interaction Anxiousness Scale (r = 0.54-0.64). The SACS-CS possesses good reliability and validity and can be applied in the cognitive assessment of college students' social anxiety. The scale could help people with different social anxiety disorder conditions receive more personalized interventions.