Those suffering from social anxiety often fear embarrassing themselves or losing status, leading to avoidance of interactions like public speaking, starting conversations, or asserting opinions around others.
Physiological arousal,distorted negative thoughtsabout oneself, and self-conscious emotions like shame characterize the condition that affects millions of people to some degree.
Social anxiety varies in severity as an experience common to almost everyone, to the chronic disorder hampering connection.
Key Points
Rationale
Decades of research have shown that childhood social trauma increases the risk for adult social anxiety (SA). However, less is known about the impact of recent adult social threats.
Competing models suggest either early childhood or current social status losses better explain individual differences in SA.
This research directly compared, for the first time, the relative potency of childhood/adolescent traumatic social experiences (SLEs) versus adult SLEs. These SLEs can include traumatic social experiences involving humiliation, rejection, and shame.
Isolating the impact of adult SLEs allowed testing competing predictions on whether proximal or distal social threats better explain variation in SA.
Clarifying the relevance of adult SLEs also addresses a key gap in the literature, which has focused more on distal developmental events.
Testing the competing models – early childhood sensitization versus ongoing adaptation – has important theoretical and clinical implications for conceptualizing SA.
Method
These questions were examined using twoquestionnaire studieswith adult participants. The studies utilized established measures of SA severity and depression proneness, as well as a modified version of the Humiliation Inventory that separated out SLE frequency in childhood, adolescence, and adulthood.
Utilizing these retrospective self-report measures of lifetime SLEs, the studies tested if SA related more strongly to adult vs early SLEs using hierarchical regression analyses.
Depression was controlled, given its association with both SA and negative life events.
Study 1 had 166 participants, while the replication in Study 2 had a larger sample of 431 adults.
Sample
The participants consisted of 166 (Study 1) and 431 (Study 2) adults recruited from a neutral community setting. The samples appear representative as reflected in the proportion endorsing clinically significant SA (21-28%).
However, no further demographic details were provided in the brief report.
Statistical Analysis
Hierarchical linear regression analyses were utilized in both studies, entering covariates in step 1 (childhood SLEs, adolescent SLEs, depression) before examining if adult SLEs explained additional variance in SA severity in step 2.
This allowed the isolation of the unique impact of adult SLEs above other relevant predictors.
Results
Across both studies, SA severity related positively to SLE frequency within each developmental stage. However, adult SLE frequency predicted residual variance in SA even when accounting for early SLEs, depression, and their interrelationships.
On average, adult SLE frequency accounted for 10-15% of additional variance.
Insight
These studies represent the first empirical separation of distal vs proximal SLEs in predicting concurrent SA.
The results suggest adult SLE exposure has an under-recognized role, consistent with evolutionary models where SA maps onto perceptions of present social dangers.
SA may remain sensitive to current experiences of humiliation and rejection rather than solely tied to childhood calibration.
Strengths
Limitations
Implications
These findings substantiate the need to assess adult SLE exposure as part of case conceptualization and treatment planning when working with socially anxious populations. Developmental models have rightfully emphasized early childhood prevention and intervention efforts.
However, a certain subset of adults may develop SA or experience symptom exacerbations predominantly in response to recent SLEs rather than solely as a legacy of childhood sensitization.
For such patients, schema therapy and processing of historical social trauma may fail to improve symptoms if proximal stressors are ignored.
Conclusion
In summary, these studies highlight proximal threats to social status that may precipitate or maintain high SA, above and beyond the impact ofearly adverse events. This observation requires replication using clinical samples and longitudinal methods.
Elucidating the conditions under which distal vs. proximal SLEs contribute to SA has implications for refining case formulation tools and personalizing treatment plans.
Future studies can also examine possible moderators such as temperament traits and self-conceptions.
The current results suggest this vigilance for status threats persists throughout the lifespan rather than being fixed in childhood.
Moving forward, clinicians and researchers should consider adult SLE exposure as a potentially crucial piece in understanding SA etiology, course, and symptom exacerbations.
References
Azoulay, R., Avigadol, L., & Gilboa-Schechtman, E. (2023). Social anxiety and accumulation of status loss events: The role of adulthood experiences.British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 62(2), 518–524.https://doi.org/10.1111/bjc.12417
Learning check
Saul McLeod, PhD
BSc (Hons) Psychology, MRes, PhD, University of Manchester
Saul McLeod, PhD., is a qualified psychology teacher with over 18 years of experience in further and higher education. He has been published in peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Clinical Psychology.
Olivia Guy-Evans, MSc
BSc (Hons) Psychology, MSc Psychology of Education
Olivia Guy-Evans is a writer and associate editor for Simply Psychology. She has previously worked in healthcare and educational sectors.
