Simple Mediation Model Research Articles

Mediating Role of Fatalism on the Relationship between Emotional Intelligence and Psychological Reactance in a Health Crisis Context (Covid-19)

The messages on barrier gestures to COVID-19 rather seem to produce reactance. This study aimed the mediating effect of fatalism on the relationship between emotional intelligence and psychological reactance to COVID-19 barrier messages. Data were collected from 232 participants using a composite questionnaire containing the emotional intelligence, psychological reactance and fatalism scales. The simple mediation model were used for data processing because it fit with three variable mediational study design. The results showed that fatalism mediates the relationship between emotional intelligence and psychological reactance vis-à-vis messages on barrier gestures to COVID-19. Emotional intelligence inhibits fatalistic beliefs and eliminates psychological reactance. In the health crisis context it is important to take socio-emotional variables into account when designing awareness campaigns inviting individuals to adopt preventive behaviors, especially when those represent the main means of eradicating the pandemic. More implications of these results, as well as future perspectives were discussed.

The Mediating Effect of Depression on the Relationship between Cognitive Function and the Activities of Daily Living in Post-stroke Patient

Purpose: This study aimed to identify the relationship between cognitive function and activities of daily living (ADL) in addition to the mediating effect exerted by depression on this relationship in post-stroke patients.Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed. A total of 182 patients were recruited from two general and three geriatric hospitals in South Korea between July 2017 and June 2018. Cognitive function, depression, and ADL measures were assessed after informed consent was obtained. Data obtained were analyzed using multiple regression and a simple mediation model that applies the PROCESS macro with a 95% bias-corrected bootstrap confidence interval (5,000 bootstrap resampling).Results: The covariates were sex, age, educational level, types of paralysis, and type of hospital. After controlling for the demographic covariates, cognitive function significantly accounted for the variance of ADL. It was also demonstrated that depression partially mediated the relationship between cognitive function and ADL in post-stroke patients.Conclusion: Cognitive function directly influences the ADL in post-stroke patients and indirectly influences it through depression. This suggests that strategies for improving depression in post-stroke patients should be considered while managing cognitive functioning for improving the ADL.

The importance of emotional intelligence for the sales associates profession as a mediation between job stress and job satisfaction

Abstract Sales associates need emotional intelligence (EI) in dealing with job stress and perceived job satisfaction. So far, there has been no research that explains the effect of job stress on job satisfaction with EI as a mediating variable in the sales associate profession. This study examines EI's role in managing job stress allows sales associates to achieve job satisfaction. The population in this study is comprised of sales associates in Jakarta-Indonesia, who work in malls that target middle to upper-class level customers, with a sample size of 100 respondents. The sampling technique used was accidental sampling; the analysis uses the simple mediation model with the macro process through SPSS process 22.0 for Windows using ordinary least squares and logistic regression path analysis modeling. The finding reveals that the higher the level of EI, the stronger the extent to which the relationship between job stress and job satisfaction is mediated.

Predictors of Parental Accommodation and Response Treatment in Young Children With Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

Background: Cognitive–behavioral family-based treatment (CBFT) is the treatment standard in very young children with obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD), which includes the same core components of cognitive–behavioral therapy (CBT) with significant family involvement. Although the latter reports high rates of remission, some children do not improve with treatments. Therefore, it is necessary to identify possible moderating variables such as comorbidity, severity of disorder, years of onset, parental anxiety, and parental accommodation. This study has two main aims: (1) to propose a predictive model on family accommodation (father and mother), taking into account variables related to the children (severity of obsessive–compulsive responses, internalizing and externalizing symptoms, and comorbidity) and with the parents before intervention (worry, accommodation of one parental member over the other) and (2) to examine the mediating role of externalizing symptoms and mother's accommodation in the relation between initial severity and improvement of severity of obsessive–compulsive responses in children aged 5–8 years.Methods: Participants comprised 56 children with OCD [mean = 6.61 (SD = 0.76)] and their parents; 79% of the sample was men. Treatment was implemented by two clinicians specialized in OCD (>15 years of experience). Clinicians were trained to administer CBT protocol in the same way. They were doctors of clinical psychology and researchers at the OCD.Results: Mother's accommodation was associated with child variables (Child Behavior Checklist–Externalizing and Initial Severity, Children's Yale–Brown Obsessive–Compulsive Scale). Father's accommodation could be explained by parent variables (mother's accommodation and worry). Simple mediation model tested using the SPSS macro PROCESS supported the relation of the initial severity of symptoms with that following intervention, through the simple indirect effect of externalizing symptoms of the child.Conclusions: Comorbidities with externalizing symptoms, father's worry, and mother's accommodation were variables that should be controlled in treatment of pediatric OCD.

CORE SELF-EVALUATION AND JOB SATISFACTION: MEDIATING ROLE OF CAREER COMMITMENT

This study aims to determine the effect of core self-evaluation on job satisfaction mediated by career commitment in IBM-JTI employees. The sampling technique was convenience sampling, using 86 samples. This research's data analysis method is the mediation test using the Preacher-Hayes The Simple Mediation Model. The results of data processing using SPSS 22 for windows with macros and syntax. This study's results indicate that core self-evaluation and career commitment have a direct effect on job satisfaction. The effect of core self-evaluation on job satisfaction is not mediated by career commitment. Core self-evaluation does not affect career commitment.
 
 Keywords: Core Self-Evaluation; Career Commitment; Job Satisfaction

Work engagement and perceived customer value, the mediating role of meaningfulness through work

Background: Work engagement is considered an important contributor towards the success of any organisation, while finding meaning in work has been proven to enhance productivity and, ultimately, assists in improving the bottom line of an organisation.Aim: The aim of the study is to examine work engagement and meaningfulness through work and at the workplace, and how these factors impact on perceived customer value. More specifically, the researchers were interested in whether meaningfulness could mediate the relationship between work engagement and perceived customer value.Setting: Data were collected from employees at a large South African manufacturing organisation.Methods: Respondents from a manufacturing organisation in South Africa participated in the quantitative cross-sectional study (N = 152). They completed previously validated questionnaires to assess work engagement, meaningfulness through work and perceived customer value from an employee perspective. (Males = 52.21%; Working less than five years in the industry = 54.61%; Non-management = 50%).Results: Correlation results indicate that features of engagement, meaningfulness through work and perceived customer value were positively associated. A simple mediation model indicates that meaning could be considered a mediator in the relationship between work engagement and perceived customer value.Conclusion: Study results indicate that work engagement was not sufficient to improve perceived customer value and that finding meaning in and through work was also required.

Does flexible work arrangements decrease or increase turnover intention? A comparison between the social exchange theory and border theory

PurposeMore companies embrace flexible work arrangements (FWA) as one of their employee retention strategies, yet its effectiveness is not consistent. Generally, past researchers use the social exchange theory to explain how FWA lowers turnover intention, while the rest adopts the border theory to justify why FWA can be ineffective. Here, the authors compare the competing theories for the first time to differentiate the theoretical reasoning of three forms of FWA (flex time, flex leave and homeworking). Two mediators (organisational commitment and work−family conflicts) are chosen to represent the mechanism of each theory.Design/methodology/approachThe authors employ the latest wave of the International Social Survey Program (ISSP) Work Orientation Module from 2015. Based on nationally representative data from 35 nations and 17,604 participants, the authors employed simple mediation and parallel double-mediation models via bootstrapping procedures to investigate the theoretical reasoning behind each FWA.FindingsThe results indicate that organisational commitment and work−family conflicts as significant mediators in all models, supporting both theories. The authors first tested each mediator in separated models. In models concerning the social exchange theory, all FWA lead to increased organisational commitment before lowering turnover intention, implying the beneficial outcomes of FWA. However, findings also support the border theory's perspective where flex time and homeworking increase turnover intention through heightened work−family conflicts. The parallel double-mediation further suggests that all three FWA forms have their unique theoretical framework, impacting turnover intention differently.Originality/valueBoth the social exchange theory and border theory are well-developed theories but grounded on different theoretical reasoning. This is the first paper that compares both theoretical perspectives in the context of FWA. It offers a new perspective in explaining the inconclusive effectiveness of FWA and provides future researchers a more integrated interpretation and prediction of FWA's impact on turnover intention.

The Mediating Effect of Change of Direction Speed in the Relationship between the Type of Sport and Reactive Agility in Elite Female Team-Sport Athletes.

The main aim of this study was to examine the mediating effect of the change of direction speed (CODs) on reactive agility (RA) in female players participating in different team sports (TS). In total, there were 31 elite female players from the Polish national basketball (n = 12, aged 24.98 ± 3.38) and handball (n = 19, aged 27.34 ± 4.68) teams participated in this study. Two experiments using the 'five-time shuttle run to gates' test with similar movement patterns were used to determine the players' RA and CODs. A simple mediation model was utilised to investigate the potential mediation role of CODs and its effect on RA. The results revealed a primary, statistically significant effect of TS on RA (B = 0.796, p = 0.005), which decreased and became statistically insignificant after including the CODs variable into the model of mediation analysis (B = 0.337, p = 0.192). The RA test results were mediated by changes in CODs (B = 0.764, p < 0.001). Likewise, TS affected CODs (B = 0.602, p = 0.016). The general conclusion is that the relationship between TS and RA is not inherent. The direct effect of TS on RA disappears in the presence of the mediator CODs. Study results confirm the relevance of using the mediation analysis to apply in sport training. Identification of the critical ingredients of the athletes' agility performance can improve training programs by focusing on effective components.

Investigating language skills as a mediator between IQ and anxiety in autistic youth

BackgroundAnxiety is a common condition noted to cause significant impairment in some autistic youth. Previous research has found that autistic youth tend to exhibit higher levels of traditional anxiety symptoms with higher IQ scores and higher language abilities. In this study of the relationship between anxiety, intelligence, and language skills in autistic youth, it was hypothesized that a mediational relationship would be observed in which IQ exerts its influence over anxiety through language skills. MethodParticipants consisted of 293 autistic youth between the ages of 7 and 18. Anxiety was assessed with the Revised Children’s Anxiety and Depression Scale, language with the Oral and Written Language Scales Version II, and IQ (performance, verbal, and full-scale) was measured with the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence Version II. A simple mediation model was used with IQ as the predictor variable, language as the mediator variable, and anxiety as the outcome variable. This analysis was conducted three times so that performance, verbal, and full-scale IQ could be examined as separate predictors. ResultsThe results of this study confirmed our hypothesis with a full mediation effect for each IQ scale, although verbal IQ was too strongly correlated with language scores for it to be considered a separate construct from our language measure. ConclusionsThis model should inform further autism research in that the influence of IQ and language over anxiety should not be viewed as independent factors but as a set of constructs that exert a shared influence.

Unbundling employer branding, job satisfaction, organizational identification and employee retention: a sequential mediation analysis

PurposeThis paper aims to extend employer branding research by investigating the role of job satisfaction and organizational identification as predictors of employee retention, and their mediating role between employer branding and employee retention.Design/methodology/approachA cross-sectional survey is utilized to gather data from 352 employees working in top Indian IT organizations. Hypotheses were tested and analyzed utilizing SPSS PROCESS Macro.FindingsThe results reveal that employer branding is positively related to job satisfaction, organizational identification and employee retention. The analysis provides support for the mediating effects on employee retention of employer branding through job satisfaction and organizational identification. In addition, results also provide support for the serial mediation model, where employer branding was found to influence employee retention via job satisfaction and organizational identification in a sequential manner. The findings connote that the enhanced positive identity of satisfied employees suppresses the intention to leave among IT professionals.Practical implicationsThe findings suggest that an employer branding strategy with a unique set of attributes can provide a competitive advantage to employers in terms of high retention levels. The findings also highlight the fact that the importance of employer branding strategy should not be merely confined to the issue of retention as it can also play a vital role in enhancing job satisfaction and employees' identification level. Hence, managers are required to devise an employer branding strategy with a long-term intent that focuses on gaining a competitive advantage and aiming to improve relationships with employees.Originality/valueThe researchers have enriched social identity and social exchange theory as a theoretical paradigm, examining antecedents of employee retention. The study has extended the foregoing direct or simple mediation models by integrating social identity theory and job satisfaction in a sequential mediation model.

Intrinsic Capacity: Validation of a New WHO Concept for Healthy Aging in a Longitudinal Chinese Study.

The World Health Organization has proposed a model of healthy aging built around the concept of functional ability, comprising an individual's intrinsic capacity, the physical and social environment they occupy, and interactions between the two. However, these constructs have been poorly defined. We examined the structure of intrinsic capacity in a representative sample of the Chinese population aged 60 years and older and assessed its value in predicting declining performance in instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs) and activities of daily living (ADLs) using similar methods to a construct validation previously undertaken in an English cohort. Deidentified data were accessed on 7 643 participants of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study 2011 and 2013 waves. Incrementally related structural equation modeling was applied, including exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, and path analysis. Multiple linear regression tested construct validity, and simple and serial mediation models assessed predictive validity. Factor loadings for the models showed a clear structure for intrinsic capacity: 1 general factor with 5 subfactors-locomotor, cognitive, psychological and sensory capacities, and vitality (reflecting underlying physiologic changes). Intrinsic capacity predicted declining performance in both IADLs (standardized coefficient (SE) -0.324 (0.02), p < .001) and ADLs (-0.227 (0.03), p < .001), after accounting for age, sex, education, wealth, and number of chronic diseases. Each characteristic was associated with intrinsic capacity, providing strong construct validity. Assessment of intrinsic capacity provides valuable information on an individual's subsequent functioning beyond that afforded by age, other personal factors, and multimorbidity.

Career of horizontal education mismatch workers: Career competency, job crafting, and work engagement

Education is one of many factors that has the biggest impact toward unemployment rate due to the fact that there are mismatches between educational background and the intended job, and it is named horizontal education mismatch. The employee who is run into educational mismatch condition is seen less-competent, less-qualified, and less accomplished associated with company and work engagement which should be owned by every employee, both supervisors and subordinates. The purpose of this study was to test out that Job Crafting can play a role as a relation mediator between career competencies and work engagement toward employees which run into horizontal education mismatch. This was quantitative research; with purposive sampling method to recruit the respondent. The respondent of this research was people with age range 17-65 years old and using Process v3.5 by Hayes, The Simple Mediation Model No.4. Considering the phenomenon of Horizontal Education Mismatch which has an impact on competency and work engagement. The uniqueness of this research was to pay attention to the suitability of educational background with the current occupation, which indirectly affects the competence of workers. The results of this study were in accordance with the aims and expectations of the researchers. The results of this study indicated that job crafting plays a role as a mediator in the correlation between career competencies and work engagement. Hopefully, it will be able to meet the competency needs of employees to increase employee engagement with the company.

The Influence of Previous Biology Lessons on Prospective Teachers’ Beliefs About Learning Biology

Professional teaching competence is significantly influenced by beliefs about learning. Prospective teachers start their teacher training at university with quite persistent beliefs about learning processes. Beliefs about learning can be differentiated into two perspectives: beliefs about student learning and beliefs about one’s own learning. Theoretical considerations suggest that the latter influence beliefs about student learning and both perspectives are influenced by the way in which prospective teachers experienced their own lessons as pupils at school. We investigated how prospective biology teachers remembered their own biology lessons and how these experiences influenced their beliefs about learning regarding both perspectives. The sample consisted of 164 prospective biology teachers (Mage = 21.58 years, SDage = 2.5, 66.02% female) in Germany. Results of a simple mediation model indicate that previous experiences in biology lessons had an impact on both perspectives. Moreover, we found that the influence that previous lessons had on the beliefs about student learning was fully mediated by one’s beliefs about own learning processes. This suggests that experiences from one’s own schooling have an impact on how teachers view learning of their students. As implications for teacher training and future research, our findings suggest that both perspectives of beliefs need to be further taken into account and that an explicit focus on beliefs about teachers’ own learning is needed.

A multifaceted study of interpersonal functioning and cognitive biases towards social stimuli in adolescents with eating disorders and healthy controls

BackgroundCognitive biases towards social stimuli have been identified as one of the putative modifiable mechanisms to remediate interpersonal difficulties in adolescents with mental disorders. However, evidence for these biases in adolescents with eating disorders is scarce. MethodsThis study assessed interpersonal sensitivity, cognitive biases towards social stimuli, and quantity and quality of social group memberships in adolescents with eating disorders (n = 80), compared to healthy controls (n = 78), and examined whether a negative interpretation bias would mediate the relationship between interpersonal sensitivity, eating disorder symptoms and positive group memberships. ResultsAdolescents with eating disorders displayed greater interpersonal awareness, negative interpretation biases of ambiguous social information and poorer quality relationships with their social groups compared to healthy controls. In a simple mediation model, interpersonal awareness predicted eating disorder symptoms, and this effect was partially mediated by a negative interpretation bias. ConclusionsPsychological interventions which aim to reduce a negative interpretation bias might help to reduce the severity of eating disorder symptoms in adolescents with eating disorders.

The Effects of Immersive Virtual Reality in Reducing Public Stigma of Mental Illness in the University Population of Hong Kong: Randomized Controlled Trial.

BackgroundPublic stigma in mental health often brings various adverse effects on people with mental illness. Researchers have been developing different interventions in combating public stigma.ObjectiveThis study investigates the effects of immersive virtual reality (IVR) in reducing the public stigma of mental illness using a single-blinded randomized control trial.MethodsA pre-post experimental design with a 1-week follow-up was conducted. Participants (N=206) were recruited through the mass mail system of The Chinese University of Hong Kong and randomized into 3 conditions: immersive animation, text, and control. In the immersive animation condition (n=72), participants experienced the simulation of daily life and the stigma experienced as an animated story protagonist with mixed anxiety and depressive disorder with IVR. In the text condition (n=65), participants experienced an identical story to the immersive animation condition with first-person audio narration using the same virtual reality headset. In the control condition (n=69), participants watched a video about planets with IVR. All participants received interventions with a researcher-assisted Oculus Go virtual reality headset. Participants’ public stigma was measured through self-administered online questionnaires and compared across conditions and at different time points using repeated measures analysis of variance. Simple and sequential mediation analyses on the relationship of condition (immersive animation vs text) and follow-up public stigma with possible mediators, including sense of embodiment and story transportation, were conducted using PROCESS.ResultsPublic stigma did not differ significantly across conditions at pre-experiment (P>.99). In the immersive animation and text conditions, public stigma was significantly reduced at postexperiment and at the 1-week follow-up compared to pre-experiment (all with P<.001). Public stigma in the control condition at postexperiment and follow-up remained unchanged compared with pre-experiment (P=.69). Immersive animation had significantly lower public stigma than the control at postexperiment (P=.003) and follow-up (P=.02). Text also had lower public stigma than the control at postexperiment (P=.007) and follow-up (P=.03). However, immersive animation did not significantly differ from text in public stigma at postexperiment and follow-up (both P>.99). In simple mediation models, both sense of embodiment (95% CI –0.22 to 0.46) and story transportation (95% CI –0.18 to 0.00) were not significant mediators. In the sequential mediation model, both sense of embodiment and story transportation were significant sequential mediators. Sense of embodiment was positively associated with story transportation (P<.001), while story transportation was negatively associated with public stigma (P<.001). The indirect effect of the sequential mediation model was significant (95% CI –0.38 to –0.11).ConclusionsThis study provides novel findings and a rigorous comparison in understanding the effects of IVR on public stigma. The findings showed that IVR and text with audio narration performed similarly and significantly in stigma reduction. Sense of embodiment and story transportation were found to be sequentially associated with public stigma reduction.Trial RegistrationCentre for Clinical Research and Biostatistics Clinical Trial Registry CUHK_Ccrb00638; https://www2.ccrb.cuhk.edu.hk/registry/public/632

Adult ADHD, executive function, depressive/anxiety symptoms, and quality of life: A serial two-mediator model

BackgroundAdult attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is associated with impaired executive function (EF), depressive/anxiety symptoms, and poor quality of life (QoL). In this study, we aimed to investigate correlations among these variables and to build a simple or serial mediation model for exploring the mechanisms between adult ADHD and QoL. MethodsThis was a cross-sectional study. The sample included 223 participants with ADHD and 54 healthy volunteers. Participants were required to complete the following scales: ADHD Rating Scale (ADHD-RS), Brief Version of the World Health Organization Quality of Life Scale (WHOQOL-BREF), Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function-Adult Version (BRIEF-A), Self-rating Depression Scale (SDS) and Self-rating Anxiety Scale (SAS). Correlations among EF, depressive/anxiety symptoms and QoL were analyzed using Pearson correlation. The simple and serial mediation models were analyzed using PROCESS (version 3.3). ResultsThe correlations between EF and QoL, depressive/anxiety symptoms and QoL, and depressive/anxiety symptoms and EF were statistically significant. In ADHD adults with comorbidities, the correlation coefficients were between -0.19 and -0.47, -0.20 and -0.62, 0.28 and 0.50, respectively. In simple mediation models, EF and depressive/anxiety symptoms were significant mediators respectively between ADHD and QoL, respectively. In a serial two-mediator model, ADHD could affect QoL indirectly via EF and then via depressive/anxiety symptoms significantly. LimitationsThe average age was young, the degree of education was high, and only self-reported scales were relied on. ConclusionsThere is a mutual effect between EF and emotional symptoms. This was the first study to build a serial two-mediator model between ADHD and QoL, suggesting the importance of EF and depressive/anxiety symptoms.

Inflammation and the Association of Vitamin D and Depressive Symptomatology.

Depression and vitamin D deficiency are major public health problems. The existing literature indicates the complex relationship between depression and vitamin D. The purpose of this study was to examine whether this relationship is moderated or mediated by inflammation. A community sample (n = 7162) from the LIFE-Adult-Study was investigated, for whom depressive symptoms were assessed via the German version of CES-D scale and serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) levels and inflammatory markers (IL-6 and CRP levels, WBC count) were quantified. Mediation analyses were performed using Hayes’ PROCESS macro and regression analyses were conducted to test moderation effects. There was a significant negative correlation between CES-D and 25(OH)D, and positive associations between inflammatory markers and CES-D scores. Only WBC partially mediated the association between 25(OH)D levels and depressive symptoms both in a simple mediation model (ab: −0.0042) and a model including covariates (ab: −0.0011). None of the inflammatory markers showed a moderation effect on the association between 25(OH)D levels and depressive symptoms. This present work highlighted the complex relationship between vitamin D, depressive symptoms and inflammation. Future studies are needed to examine the effect of vitamin D supplementation on inflammation and depressive symptomatology for causality assessment.

Enabling development impact of solar mini-grids through the community engagement: Evidence from rural Sierra Leone

Renewable energy based mini-grids offer a critical solution for universal access to energy in sub-Saharan Africa. We conduct a survey in rural Sierra Leone to measure the perception of local beneficiaries of two solar mini-grid projects vis-à-vis renewable energy potential, community engagement and poverty alleviation. By applying a simple mediation model, we find that the community engagement plays a significant role of chain of influence between renewable energy and poverty reduction - each 1% increase in the perceived renewable energy potential can lead to a 0.195% increase in the perceived poverty reduction, resulting from the community engagement. This mediating effect of the community engagement accounts for around 60% of the total effects of renewable energy on poverty reduction. These findings suggest that empowering the community is essential to creating electricity demand and delivering development impact of renewable energy based mini-grids in the deep poverty context.

Sample Size Requirements for Simple and Complex Mediation Models.

Mediation models have been widely used in many disciplines to better understand the underlying processes between independent and dependent variables. Despite their popularity and importance, the appropriate sample sizes for estimating those models are not well known. Although several approaches (such as Monte Carlo methods) exist, applied researchers tend to use insufficient sample sizes to estimate their models of interest, which might result in unstable and inaccurate estimation of the model parameters including mediation effects. In the present study, sample size requirements were investigated for four frequently used mediation models: one simple mediation model and three complex mediation models. For each model, path and structural equation modeling approaches were examined, and partial and complete mediation conditions were considered. Both the percentile bootstrap method and the multivariate delta method were compared for testing mediation effects. A series of Monte Carlo simulations was conducted under various simulation conditions, including those concerning the level of effect sizes, the number of indicators, the magnitude of factor loadings, and the proportion of missing data. The results not only present practical and general guidelines for substantive researchers to determine minimum required sample sizes but also improve understanding of which factors are related to sample size requirements in mediation models.

Using causal interventionist models to examine the relationship between social anxiety and paranoia: A 3-month follow-up cross-cultural survey conducted in thailand and the united kingdom

IntroductionThe continuum of social threat ranges from anxiety to paranoia. Examining the factors that predict and mediate the relationship between social anxiety and persecutory paranoia will help with the development of interventionist-causal theories that can guide the development of new treatments.ObjectivesTo investigate mediators between social anxiety and persecutory paranoia in a prospective cross-cultural analogue sample.MethodsA 3-month follow-up online survey included participants aged ≥18-years-old in Thailand and the UK. Recruitment was via advertisements on websites and social media. Participants completed questionnaires at baseline (T1) and 3-month follow-up (T2) measuring social anxiety, paranoia, depression. Mediators were: stigma; internal and external shame; social rank; self-esteem; and safety behaviours. We used linear regression to examine predictors of paranoia and mediation analysis to test indirect effects. Estimating the indirect effects was calculated by 10,000 bootstrapping bias-corrected 95% confidence intervals.ResultsAt follow-up, 186 (70.4%female; mean age 34.9±9.1) Thai and 236 (81.4%female; 35.7±12.7) UK respondents completed the survey. Regarding change scores (T2-T1), higher paranoia was significantly predicted by higher social anxiety and external shame controlling for age, gender, depression. A simple mediation model controlling for depression showed significant indirect effects for external shame (ab=0.06, 95%CI=0.018 to 0.105) and safety behaviours (ab=0.06, 95%CI=0.002 to 0.127). A multiple mediation model found external shame was a significant mediator (ab=0.06, 95%CI=0.020 to 0.110).ConclusionsThese cross-cultural data suggest that external shame may mediate the prospective relationship between social anxiety and paranoia. These data suggest the potential for treatment of persecutory fears and social anxiety in psychosis by targeting shame-related cognitions.