State Social Anxiety Research Articles

Anticipatory and Post-Event Rumination in Social Anxiety Disorder: A Review of the Theoretical and Empirical Literature

Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is a psychological disorder characterised by an excessive and persistent fear of social or performance situations, which interferes with daily functioning. Cognitive models of SAD (Clark & Wells, 1995; Hofmann, 2007; Rapee & Heimberg, 1997) emphasise the importance of negative pre- and post-event rumination as a maintaining factor in the cycle of SAD. While the link between negative rumination and SAD is well supported by empirical research, little is understood about this cognitively important process; thus, research investigating the predictors of negative rumination in SAD is important to consider. Within the current literature, performance appraisal appears to be the most likely unique cognitive predictor of post-event rumination. There is limited research into cognitive predictors of pre-event rumination. Treatments targeting this maintaining factor are important to consider. Suggestions for future research examining the cognitive models of SAD by experimentally manipulating perceived social standards in order to examine the impact of high and low perceived social standard on appraisal processes (i.e., threat appraisal and performance appraisal), state social anxiety, and negative pre-event and post-event rumination, are proposed. Implications for theoretical models and efficacious treatments for SAD are discussed.

Emphasizing appearance versus health outcomes in exercise: The influence of the instructor and participants’ reasons for exercise

The objectifying nature of exercise environments may prevent women from reaping psychological benefits of exercise. The present experiment manipulated self-objectification through an exercise class taught by an instructor who emphasized exercise as either a means of acquiring appearance or health outcomes. The purpose of this study was to test for interactions between the class emphasis and participants’ reasons for exercise (i.e., appearance, health) predicting participants’ state self-objectification, state social physique anxiety, exercise class enjoyment, and future intentions of returning to a similar exercise class. Results, obtained via pre- and post-exercise questionnaires, revealed a significant interaction between class emphasis and health reasons for exercise predicting state self-objectification. Participants with lower health reasons for exercise reported greater state self-objectification in the appearance-focused class compared to those with higher health reasons for exercise. Adopting stronger health reasons for exercise may buffer exercise participants from the more objectifying aspects of the group exercise environment.

Anxiety doesn’t become you: How attachment anxiety compromises relational opportunities.

Although research has shown that attachment anxiety is detrimental to ongoing relationships, less is known about whether and how it affects the earliest stages of relationship initiation. How does attachment anxiety affect an initial interaction with a potential relationship partner? The present investigation explored the interpersonal outcomes associated with attachment anxiety in the context of various relational opportunities, testing a mediational model whereby interpersonal displays characteristic of state social anxiety-social disengagement and manifest anxiety-were proposed as mechanisms of interpersonal failure. In Study 1, participants engaged in speed-dating. In Study 2, participants were videotaped introducing themselves to an attractive, single, preferred-sex confederate who would ostensibly be deciding whether to meet them. In Study 3, participants were videotaped having a semistructured 40-min interaction with an attractive, friendly, single, preferred-sex confederate. Across all 3 contexts, attachment anxiety was associated with negative interpersonal outcomes, mediated by displays of social disengagement (Study 2) and manifest anxiety (Studies 1 and 3). The negative displays and outcomes associated with attachment anxiety were expressed behaviorally as verbal disfluencies and interpersonal awkwardness (Study 3). Overall, attachment anxiety was a robust predictor of interpersonal failure when presented with a relational opportunity. Such failures will reinforce the negative expectations underpinning state social anxiety, making it harder for more anxiously attached individuals to initiate and develop the satisfying relationships that might over time help them overcome their relational insecurity.

Consequences of anticipatory processing on cognitive symptoms of social anxiety

Anticipatory processing is an anxious style of repetitive negative thought associated with social anxiety (SA) that was proposed by Clark and Wells. Considerable research has examined factors of Clark and Wells' cognitive model of SA (e.g. attention, interpretation), but few studies have examined anticipatory processing, which is hypothesized to interact with other components in the model. In the current study, individuals high in social anxiety symptoms (HSA; N = 56) and control participants [Normal Control (NC); N = 52] engaged in an anticipation or distraction task prior to a threatened social interaction. HSAs who anticipated had higher self-focused attention than NCs who anticipated and HSAs in the distraction condition, suggesting an important relationship between anticipation and self-focus that is specific to HSAs. Those who anticipated endorsed more negative interpretations than those who engaged in distraction, regardless of SA status. However, this relationship was mediated by self-focus. Implications in the context of Clark and Wells' model and future directions are discussed.

Erratum to: TelEMA: a low-cost and user-friendly telephone assessment platform

In Table 2, the Beta estimate for Trait social anxiety predicting Negative affect should be changed from 5.881 to 0.023, and it’s now nonsignificant (i.e., no double asterisks). Though a more minor correction, the Beta estimate for State social anxiety predicting Depression should be changed from .200 to .198. On the tenth page of the article, under Results, the second sentence should also be changed to: “Trait social anxiety did not significantly predict negative affect (p =.594), positive affect (p =.622), or depression (p =.167) over time.”

Cannabis use vulnerability among socially anxious users: Cannabis craving during a social interaction.

Socially anxious individuals appear especially vulnerable to cannabis-related problems. However, the nature of the social anxiety-cannabis relation remains unclear. The present study examined the timing and specificity of cannabis craving in response to a social anxiety induction task among 82 (71% female) cannabis users randomly assigned to either a social interaction or reading task. Participants completed ratings of substance (cannabis, alcohol, cigarette) craving at baseline (prior to being informed of task assignment), before, during, and after task. The Time × Condition interaction was significant such that cannabis craving increased from before to during the task among participants in the social interaction condition, but not among those in the reading condition. This effect was specific to cannabis craving and was not observed for craving for alcohol or cigarettes. Data suggest that increases in state social anxiety may play a role in cannabis use behaviors.

TelEMA: a low-cost and user-friendly telephone assessment platform

Ecological momentary assessment (EMA), or the repeated assessment of individuals' behaviors and experiences over time, is a methodologically advantageous approach to the study of psychological constructs. Recently, advances in computer technology have allowed for EMA research to be conducted in a more convenient, automated, and secure manner by administering surveys on participants' telephones and storing the results directly to a central server. The present article introduces TelEMA, an easy-to-use, low-cost telephone assessment platform for clinical and research applications. A single server running TelEMA can be shared among many experimenters, studies, and participants simultaneously. TelEMA routes telephone calls and text messages through a third-party service, so experimenters may conduct studies with no up-front cost or technical expertise. TelEMA provides a secure Web interface for experimenters or clinicians to design studies, enroll participants, monitor compliance, and collate response data from anywhere. Participants complete surveys using their own telephones. Surveys may contain keypress or voice recording questions, and the timing and content of each survey may be randomized and customized. A pilot study was conducted in which individuals used the TelEMA system to complete four randomly timed surveys per day for oneweek; the surveys assessed state affect and social anxiety. Results indicated that participants found TelEMA easy to use and secure, and compliance rates were on par with other EMA methods using mobile devices. Overall, TelEMA is a practical and robust system that enables fast and inexpensive deployment of EMAs.

Effect of maternal anxiety, depression, acceptance and psychological control on students' social anxiety

Objective To determine the current students' social anxiety status and maternal factors in school students(grade 5-7) in Harbin, and provided scientific guidance relevant to students' social anxiety. Methods 1526 mother-child pairs collected by random cluster sampling, children completed the social anxiety scale for children (SASC), security scale, coping strategies questionnaire(consist of ambivalence and avoidance subscale), acceptance scale and psychological control scale, and mothers completed the center for epidemiologic studies depression inventory(CES-D), self-rating anxiety scale(SAS). Results The total positive detection rate of social anxiety was 13.6%, there was no significantly difference between boys and girls (P>0.05); the positive detection rate of Grade 6 was higher than Grade 5 and Grade 7. There were positive correlation between social anxiety and mother's psychological control, mother's depression, mother's anxiety(r=0.228, 0.143, 0.122); negative correlation with mother's acceptance(r=-0.214). Linear regression indicated that only three variables (mother's psychological control, mother's acceptance, mother's depression) were at the P<0.05 level.The regression coefficients for the three variables were 1.557, -1.092 and 0.040, respectively. Conclusion Maternal highly psychological control, lowly acceptance and maternal anxiety depression all play a role in promoting the occurrence of students' social anxiety. Key words: Social anxiety; Maternal attachment; Psychological control; Acceptance; Anxiety and depression

Lateralisation for processing facial emotion and anxiety: Contrasting state, trait and social anxiety

Recent neuropsychological studies have attempted to distinguish between different types of anxiety by contrasting patterns of brain organisation or activation; however, lateralisation for processing emotional stimuli has received relatively little attention. This study examines the relationship between strength of lateralisation for the processing of facial expressions of emotion and three measures of anxiety: state anxiety, trait anxiety and social anxiety. Across all six of the basic emotions (anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, surprise) the same patterns of association were found. Participants with high levels of trait anxiety were more strongly lateralised to the right hemisphere for processing facial emotion. In contrast, participants with high levels of self-reported physiological arousal in response to social anxiety were more weakly lateralised to the right hemisphere, or even lateralised to the left hemisphere, for the processing of facial emotion. There were also sex differences in these associations: the relationships were evident for males only. The finding of distinct patterns of lateralisation for trait anxiety and self-reported physiological arousal suggests different neural circuitry for trait and social anxiety.

The Effects of Experimenter Gender on State Social Physique Anxiety and Strength in a Testing Environment

Social influences can impact self-presentational concerns such as social physique anxiety (SPA), concerns over one's body being evaluated by others. In addition, social influences may also impact performance on a physical test. In a physical testing environment, one social factor that influences SPA and which may also influence the outcomes of a physical test is experimenter gender. The present study examined the influence of experimenter gender on SPA and actual muscle strength in an experimental testing environment. Male (n = 50) and female (n = 50) university students were randomly assigned to either a male or female experimenter. Before strength testing, state SPA (SPA-S) was assessed. Actual strength was represented by the score obtained during the maximum voluntary contraction (MVC) test. Two 2 × 2 (participant gender × gender of the experimenter) analyses of variance were conducted with SPA-S and strength as the dependent variables. For SPA-S, a significant main effect was found only for participant gender (F(1,95) = 14.08, p < 0.01, η² = 0.13), with women scoring significantly higher than men. For MVC, there was a significant effect for participant gender (F(1,96) = 48.08, p < 0.001, η² = 0.33), with men, as expected, having significantly higher strength values than women. Although the gender of the experimenter did not influence SPA-S or muscle strength, other forms of anxiety (e.g., fitness anxiety) may be relevant in this setting. Future research should also investigate other factors in the testing environment (e.g., type of task) that may be more influential on psychological or performance outcomes.

A prospective examination of predictors of post-event processing following videotaped exposures in group cognitive behavioural therapy for individuals with social phobia

Following social events, individuals with social phobia engage in post-event processing (PEP), namely a post-mortem detailed analysis of a social situation. This study aimed to examine cognitive and symptom correlates of PEP, as well as stability of PEP, in the context of videotaped exposures that occurred during treatment at sessions four and eight. Before treatment, 75 individuals with DSM-IV diagnosed social phobia completed measures of social anxiety, anxious rumination, fear of causing discomfort to others, and negative interpretation of positive social events. They rated their peak anxiety during the taped exposure. Then, they completed a measure of PEP one week after each videotaped exposure exercise. Results revealed that baseline social anxiety symptoms, state anxiety during the videotaping, anxious rumination, fear of causing discomfort to others, and negative interpretation of positive social events were all positively associated with PEP for the first taped exposure. Regression analyses demonstrated that unique predictors of PEP over and above baseline social anxiety were state social anxiety during the exposure, and anxious coping-focused rumination. This was largely replicated in the second taped exposure. In addition, PEP following two videotaped exposures separated by four weeks showed a moderate-to-large positive correlation. These findings highlight symptom and cognitive correlates of PEP, and underscore importance of state anxiety in social situations, as well as general anxiety focused rumination in social phobia.

Construct validation of a state version of the Social Physique Anxiety Scale among young women

This study examined the validity of a state version of the Social Physique Anxiety Scale ( Hart, Leary & Rejeski, 1989) by conducting tests of concurrent and discriminative validation. Participants were four separate samples of young women ( N = 221) who exercised ≤2 days/week and who participated in various experiments examining body image and self-presentation. Participants’ scores on the state SPAS (S-SPAS) were significantly correlated, in expected directions, with scores on both trait and state measures of body image and self-presentation, and with body mass index (BMI). In addition, S-SPAS scores discriminated between women who exercised in a mixed-sex versus a same-sex environment, but trait SPAS scores did not. Together, these results provide evidence of construct validity of a state version of the SPAS and demonstrate that social physique anxiety can be conceptualized and measured as a situational variable. The S-SPAS, rather than the trait SPAS, should be employed in experiments designed to detect differences in state social physique anxiety.

Not self-focused attention but negative beliefs affect poor social performance in social anxiety: An investigation of pathways in the social anxiety–social rejection relationship

Patients with social anxiety disorder (SAD) not only fear negative evaluation but are indeed less likeable than people without SAD. Previous research shows social performance to mediate this social anxiety–social rejection relationship. This study studied two pathways hypothesized to lead to poor social performance in social anxiety: increased self-focused attention and negative beliefs. State social anxiety was experimentally manipulated in high and low-blushing-fearful individuals by letting half of the participants believe that they blushed intensely during a 5 min getting-acquainted interaction with two confederates. Participants rated their state social anxiety, self-focused attention, and level of negative beliefs. Two confederates and two video-observers rated subsequently likeability (i.e., social rejection) and social performance of the participants. In both groups, the social anxiety–social rejection relationship was present. Although state social anxiety was related to heightened self-focused attention and negative beliefs, only negative beliefs were associated with relatively poor social performance. In contrast to current SAD models, self-focused attention did not play a key-role in poor social performance but seemed to function as a by-product of state social anxiety. Beliefs of being negatively evaluated seem to elicit changes in behavioral repertoire resulting in a poor social performance and subsequent rejection.

The effects of leader gender on self-presentational concerns in exercise

The present study examined the impact of the exercise leader's gender on the self-presentational concerns of women in a live exercise class. Eighty-seven college-aged non- or infrequent exercisers participated in a group exercise class led by either a female or male instructor. Participants completed measures of Self-Presentational Efficacy (SPE), State Social Anxiety (SSA) and State Social Physique Anxiety (SPA-S) prior to and following completion of a group exercise class. A repeated measures Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA), with time as the within-subjects factor and leader gender as the between-subjects factor, was conducted. A significant main effect for time was found (F(3, 80) = 19.65, p < 0.001). Estimated marginal means indicated that all participants reported significantly higher SPE and lower SSA and SPA-S post-exercise. Completing an exercise class may override any self-presentational concerns that can arise from the exercise environment. Future studies should adopt ecologically valid research designs to gain a clearer picture of self-presentational concerns in exercise classes.

The effect of mirrored environments on self-presentational efficacy and social anxiety in women in a step aerobics class

Objective The present study examined the influence of mirrors on self-presentational efficacy (SPE) and state social anxiety (SSA) in a group exercise class in female undergraduate students. Method Fifty-one female university students completed measures of SPE and SSA prior to and following a step aerobics class. Twenty-nine participants completed the class in front of a mirror, while 22 participants completed the class without a mirror. Results A repeated measures MANOVA indicated no differences in SPE or SSA based on the presence or absence of mirrors. Regardless of the presence or absence of a mirror, SPE increased and SSA decreased following exercise. Conclusions The results suggest that, for this population, completing an exercise session may be more important than the presence or absence of mirrors in influencing self-presentational concerns.

The Structure of Self-Consciousness in Children and Young Adolescents and Relations to Social Anxiety

Decades of research have examined the structure of self-consciousness in adults and its relationship to social anxiety. This study examined the structure of self-consciousness via the Self-Consciousness Scales (Fenigstein et al., J. Consult. Clin. Psychol. 43:522–527, 1975) in a school sample of 175 children and young adolescents (92 girls; mean age = 11.5). Confirmatory factor analysis best supported a five-factor solution (Internal State Awareness, Self-Reflectiveness, Appearance Consciousness, Style Consciousness and Social Anxiety). Although some factor based subscales evidenced low internal consistencies, convergent and discriminant correlations with self-report measures of social phobia, negative affect, and positive affect as well as parent-report measures of internalizing and externalizing problems provided additional support for the five-factor model. Future studies should further examine the multidimensional nature as well as the developmental course of self-consciousness and its relation to social anxiety longitudinally.

Coping with Social Physique Anxiety in Adolescence

Purpose To explore how adolescents cope with social physique anxiety. Methods Participants were 398 female (mean age of 15.4 years, SD = 1.3) and 223 male (mean age of 15.4 years, SD = 1.1) adolescents who provided open-ended responses to a self-identified situation in which they experienced social physique anxiety. A codebook of 24 dimensions was developed to code participants’ coping strategies. Measures of state and trait social physique anxiety and coping function were also completed. Results Females had significantly higher mean values than males on social physique anxiety scales and emotion-focused coping function. Females reported a total of 1051 strategies and males reported 473 coping strategies. The most commonly reported coping strategies were behavioral avoidance (reported by 41.5% of females and 33.2% of males), appearance management (39.9% females, 24.4% males), social support (22.1% females, 17.1% males), cognitive avoidance (20.4% females, 18.7% males), and acceptance (19.6% females, 29.0% males). Social physique anxiety in the self-identified situation was related to both trait social physique anxiety ( r = .44, females; r = .36, males) and the number of strategies reported ( r = .21, females; r = .23, males). Conclusions First, this study provides important insight into the wide range of cognitive and behavioral coping strategies adolescents use to manage social physique anxiety. Second, the development of the codebook that was necessary to code the adolescents’ open-ended coping responses has the potential to act as a starting point as a taxonomy for coping in the body domain.

The causal role of self-awareness in blushing-anxious, socially-anxious and social phobics individuals

This study examined the effect of attentional focus on social anxiety in three groups of subjects: high versus low blushing-anxious participants ( n=48); high versus low socially anxious participants ( n=60); and social phobic patients compared to patients with other anxiety disorders ( n=48). Participants were asked to imagine two series of social situations, in which the hero was in the centre of others' attention. In the first series of stories, the type of feedback from the audience (positive, negative and neutral) and the direction of attention of the hero (self- versus task-focused) were manipulated, and in the second series of stories, the presence or absence of blushing and the direction of attention of the hero were manipulated. In line with the expectations, self-focused attention (SFA) led to more social anxiety than task-focused attention (TFA) in all the three experiments, and high blushing-anxious, socially anxious, and social phobic groups reported higher levels of self-awareness than their low-anxious comparison groups. No evidence was found for the idea that self-focusing is specifically detrimental for participants who are already socially anxious, blushing-anxious, or socially phobic. Also, attentional focus did not interact with the valence of social feedback. Finally, results provided some support for the hypothesis that fear of blushing is mediated by self-focusing. The results suggest that irrespective of trait social anxiety, and irrespective of the outcome of a social situation (positive, neutral or negative), SFA increases state social anxiety, or TFA decreases state social anxiety.

Social anxiety and cardiovascular responses to interpersonal communication

This study reports data on the relationship of heart rate and blood pressure to state and trait social anxiety. Findings support the prediction that high trait anxiety subjects evidence a correlation between physiological measures and social anxiety. Measures of heart rate in both resting and talking periods correlate with state anxiety among high trait anxiety subjects. By contrast, systolic blood pressure during the talking period correlates with social anxiety for all subjects. These results confirm predictions about the psychosomatics of speech anxiety and demonstrate the importance of studying blood pressure.