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Social Anxiety and Positive Outcome Expectancies on Risk-Taking Behaviors

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Abstract

We examined the hypothesis that under specific conditions, socially anxious individuals may be risk-prone as opposed to risk-averse in domains such as heavy drinking, illicit drug use, unsafe sexual practices, and aggression. A college-aged sample, predominantly women, completed a series of questionnaires on social anxiety and risk-taking behavioral intentions. Results of hierarchical regression analyses indicated that positive outcome expectancies moderated relationships between social anxiety and sexual risk-taking and aggression. Socially anxious individuals expecting desirable outcomes reported the greatest risk-taking behavioral intentions. Socially anxious individuals expecting less desirable outcomes reported the least risk-taking intentions. Social anxiety interaction effects were not accounted for by other anxiety and depressive symptoms. Data suggested that social anxiety was also positively related to illicit drug use. Although preliminary, these significant findings suggest that a subset of socially anxious individuals may engage in risky activities that likely serve the purpose of regulating emotions.

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... Research has also explored the mechanisms through which social connectedness influences risk-taking and mood regulation. Kashdan and Elhai (2006) suggest that social anxiety can affect individuals' expectations of positive outcomes from risk-taking behaviors, potentially moderating the relationship between social connectedness and risk-taking (Kashdan & Elhai, 2006). Additionally, the protective factors related to social connectedness and their impact on serious mental illness highlight the complex interplay between social relationships, mood regulation, and risk-taking behaviors (Sippel et al., 2022). ...
... Research has also explored the mechanisms through which social connectedness influences risk-taking and mood regulation. Kashdan and Elhai (2006) suggest that social anxiety can affect individuals' expectations of positive outcomes from risk-taking behaviors, potentially moderating the relationship between social connectedness and risk-taking (Kashdan & Elhai, 2006). Additionally, the protective factors related to social connectedness and their impact on serious mental illness highlight the complex interplay between social relationships, mood regulation, and risk-taking behaviors (Sippel et al., 2022). ...
... The workshop's emphasis on developing emotional awareness and regulation skills likely contributed to participants' decreased reliance on risk-taking behaviors as coping mechanisms. This finding is consistent with previous research indicating that enhanced emotional regulation capabilities can lead to more adaptive coping strategies and less engagement in harmful behaviors (Kashdan & Elhai, 2006). ...
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This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a Social Connectedness Workshop in mitigating risk-taking behaviors and improving mood regulation among adults experiencing mild to moderate levels of social disconnection. It hypothesized that increased social connectedness through structured intervention would lead to significant improvements in these psychological domains. A randomized controlled trial was conducted with 30 participants, aged 18-45, who were assigned to either an 8-session Social Connectedness Workshop (experimental group) or a control group receiving no intervention. Assessments using the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART) for risk-taking behaviors and the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS) for mood regulation were conducted at baseline, post-intervention, and at a three-month follow-up. Data analysis was performed with SPSS-27, employing Analysis of Variance with repeated measurements and Bonferroni post-hoc tests. Participants in the experimental group showed significant reductions in risk-taking behaviors, with mean scores decreasing from 43.99 (SD = 5.44) at baseline to 37.39 (SD = 6.99) at follow-up (p < 0.01). Mood regulation also improved significantly, with mean scores increasing from 82.99 (SD = 13.77) to 90.49 (SD = 13.55) in the same group (p < 0.01). No significant changes were observed in the control group across both variables. The intervention group's results displayed significant time, group, and interaction effects, indicating the workshop's effectiveness in achieving the study's objectives. The Social Connectedness Workshop effectively reduced risk- taking behaviors and enhanced mood regulation among participants, underscoring the importance of social ties and emotional support in psychological well-being. These findings suggest that structured social connectedness interventions can be a valuable component of mental health strategies aimed at reducing risk-taking behaviors and improving mood regulation.
... This tendency to overestimate potential negative outcomes has been linked to deficits in decision-making, with socially anxious individuals exhibiting poorer goal-directed decision making in the context of anxiety-related stimuli (Pittig, Alpers, Niles, & Craske, 2015). Consequently, along with behavioral avoidance, individuals high in SA exhibit risk-seeking behavior across various domains (Kashdan, Collins, & Elhai, 2006), including alcohol and substance use (Buckner, Eggleston, & Schmidt, 2006), aggression, and risky sexual behavior (Bodinger et al., 2002). ...
... In line with self-regulatory models, high-SA college-age individuals report using substances to increase positive emotion under social stress (Buckner et al., 2006), cope with negative emotion, and fit in with peers (Stewart et al., 2006). Moreover, individual differences in personality and information processing, including impulsivity (Keough, Badawi, Nitka, O'Connor, & Stewart, 2016), decision-making styles, and reward expectancies (Kashdan et al., 2006), appear to moderate the association between risk-taking and SA, further supporting the role of effortful control in regulating SA-related behaviors. Importantly, however, most previous studies on this topic have relied on self-report measures of risk-taking and impulsivity (e.g., Kashdan et al., 2006;Kashdan, Elhai, & Breen, 2008). ...
... Moreover, individual differences in personality and information processing, including impulsivity (Keough, Badawi, Nitka, O'Connor, & Stewart, 2016), decision-making styles, and reward expectancies (Kashdan et al., 2006), appear to moderate the association between risk-taking and SA, further supporting the role of effortful control in regulating SA-related behaviors. Importantly, however, most previous studies on this topic have relied on self-report measures of risk-taking and impulsivity (e.g., Kashdan et al., 2006;Kashdan, Elhai, & Breen, 2008). There remains a need to integrate experimental, biobehavioral, and self-report measures within the same study to better understand specific mechanisms of distorted decision-making in SA, particularly in contexts of anticipated risks and rewards. ...
Article
Background and objectives: Although approaches combining behavioral genetics and neuroeconomics have advanced models of addiction, no study has synthesized these methods to elucidate mechanisms of competing risk-approachand risk-avoidance in social anxiety (SA). Grounded in dual-mode models of serotonergic systems and self-regulation, this study investigated associations between SA, serotonin transporter 5-HTT (LPR; rs25531) and receptor 5-HT1A genes, and risk-taking on behavioral and self-report measures. Design and methods: Young adults (N = 309) completed a neuroeconomic task measuring gambling attractiveness (δ), reward probability discrimination (γ), and risk attitudes (α). Risk genotypes included 5-HTT (LPR; rs25531) low-expression variants (SS/SLG/LGLG), and 5-HT1A (rs6295) GG. Results: Path analysis revealed that SA related to increased gambling attractiveness, but only for 5-HT1A risk groups. Although the 5-HTT (LPR; rs25531) risk genotypes and self-reported SA predicted lower social risk-taking, high-SA individuals who exhibited more accurate reward probability discrimination (γ) reported taking increased social risks. Conclusion: In line with dual-mode models, results suggest that SA predicts behavioral risk-approach at the basic decision-making level, along with self-reported social risk-avoidance, modulated by serotonergic genotypes. High-SA individuals with more accurate assessments of reward probabilities may engage in greater social risk-taking, perhaps reflecting an adaptive tendency to approach feared situations.
... questionnaire (Kashdan, Collins, & Elhai, 2006). When socially anxious individuals did not expect benefits from risk taking (i.e., risky sexual behavior, aggression), they exhibited significantly less risk taking compared to both socially anxious participants expecting benefits and controls (Kashdan et al., 2006). ...
... questionnaire (Kashdan, Collins, & Elhai, 2006). When socially anxious individuals did not expect benefits from risk taking (i.e., risky sexual behavior, aggression), they exhibited significantly less risk taking compared to both socially anxious participants expecting benefits and controls (Kashdan et al., 2006). The exceptionally low risk taking in socially anxious individuals suggests that they are in a "prevention mode" which results in greater significance given to social losses, such as rejection, than social gains, such as positive relationships with others (Kashdan et al., 2006). ...
... When socially anxious individuals did not expect benefits from risk taking (i.e., risky sexual behavior, aggression), they exhibited significantly less risk taking compared to both socially anxious participants expecting benefits and controls (Kashdan et al., 2006). The exceptionally low risk taking in socially anxious individuals suggests that they are in a "prevention mode" which results in greater significance given to social losses, such as rejection, than social gains, such as positive relationships with others (Kashdan et al., 2006). In summary, studies demonstrate a heightened loss aversion in anxious individuals in both naturalistic and laboratory settings, which suggests that they assign greater significance to losses. ...
Article
As a group, anxiety disorders represent the most prevalent mental health condition. A hallmark feature of anxiety disorders is avoidant behavior. Along with this, anxious individuals have been shown to exhibit a risk aversion in decision making. However, anxiety disorders are simultaneously highly co-morbid with substance use disorders (e.g., Grant, Stinson, Dawson, & Chou, 2004), suggesting that certain individuals with anxiety disorders engage in particular forms of risk taking. However, much of the current literature on anxiety and risk taking has focused on risk aversion in anxiety, presupposing an inhibited model of anxious responding. In addition, there is little literature which explicitly differentiates between adaptive and maladaptive risk taking or the relevance of context in risk taking, variables which were predicted to be highly important when attempting to interpret risk taking behavior in anxious individuals. There were three overarching aims of the current study: 1) Investigate etiological and maintenance factors, particularly motivation and emotion regulation, hypothesized to play a role in risk taking behavior in individuals with heightened anxiety; 2) Differentiate between maladaptive (negative) and adaptive (positive) risk taking to examine if type of risk taking behavior is differentially influenced by anxiety; and 3) Investigate the relation between risk taking in the laboratory and naturalistic settings to identify the role of context. Participants included undergraduate college students enrolled in psychology courses (N = 143). Participants completed a laboratory portion of the study where they completed three computerized tasks to assess risk taking behavior and self-report inventories. The Anxiety Sensitivity Index-3 (ASI-3) was utilized due to its clinical relevance in anxiety disorders. Following the laboratory session, participants completed a naturalistic portion of the study where they completed a week-long diary of their engagement in and perception of different risk taking behaviors. Contrary to much of the literature on anxiety and risk taking, anxiety sensitivity was not found to be associated with reduced or heightened risk taking for either adaptive or maladaptive risk taking domains. Anxiety sensitivity also did not influence risk taking in laboratory or naturalistic settings. With regards to original aims, it was found that: 1) Anxiety did not interact with predicted moderating variables to influence risk taking behavior; 2) On laboratory tasks, positive risk taking was differentiated from negative risk taking; however, this distinction was not made in naturalistic settings; and 3) Risk taking in the laboratory was not associated with risk taking in real world settings, suggesting that it should not be assumed that findings from laboratory tasks will readily generalize to real world behavior.
... The literature shows that social anxiety is associated with riskavoidant decision-making (Barlow, 1988;Butler & Mathews, 1987); including research indicating that individuals high in trait social anxiety make risk-avoidant decisions on a risktaking behavioral task (Maner et al., 2007). Yet, other work suggests that social anxiety is related to risk-prone activities, including aggression, unsafe sexual practices, and novelty seeking in response to impulsive decision-making (Erwin, Heimberg, Schneier, & Liebowitz, 2003;Kachin, Newman, & Pincus, 2001;Kashdan, Collins, & Elhai, 2006;Kashdan, Elhai, & Breen, 2008;Kashdan & Hofmann, 2008). For example, social anxiety is positively correlated with drinking in situations involving unpleasant emotions and conflict with others (e.g., Buckner Eggleston, & Schmidt, 2006). ...
... The use of these substances is thought to regulate mood (Cooper, Frone, Russell, & Mudar, 1995) by ameliorating the impact of acute anxiety (Buckner et al., 2006). Of course increased risk taking on the BART could not result in the type of direct neural effects associated with self-medication as is possible with a substance of abuse, but may still have had some impact in providing the individuals with a strategy for mood regulation or control over behavior in contrast to the stressor where the perception of control may have been violated (Kashdan, Collins, & Elhai, 2006). ...
... One such moderator is outcome expectancies. Kashdan, Collins, and Elhai (2006) demonstrated that socially anxious individuals, expecting positive outcomes in uncertain events, reported strong intentions to engage in risk-taking, whereas socially anxious individuals, expecting negative outcomes, reported weak intentions to engage in risk-taking. In short, the strength of the relationship between social anxiety and risk taking is not only dependent on the social stress per se, but is likely to also be influenced by trait-like cognitive and potentially personality factors. ...
Article
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Risk-taking behavior involves making choices with uncertain positive or negative outcomes. Evidence suggests that risk-taking behavior is influenced by emotional state. One such emotional experience is social anxiety, which has been related to both risk-avoidant and risk-seeking decision making. The present study examined a community sample of 34 adolescents grouped into low (Low SA Group) and high (High SA Group) social anxiety (SA). Both groups were compared on changes in performance on a risk taking task (Balloon Analogue Risk Task) between a social threat condition (modified Trier Social Stress Test, High Stress) and a control condition (Low Stress). These conditions were administered on different days, and the order was counterbalanced across subjects. A group×condition interaction revealed that the High SA Group showed greater risk-taking behavior when exposed to the High Stress Condition compared to the Low Stress Condition, while the Low SA Group evidenced no difference between the two conditions. Interpretations for the increased risk behavior under the condition of social stress for those high in social anxiety are discussed as well as implications for understanding the complex relationship between social anxiety and risk behavior.
... However, recent findings and theoretical arguments have argued that social anxiety may promote risk seeking in some circumstances. It has been shown that when expecting a positive outcome, social phobics have higher risk preferences than less socially anxious controls (Kashdan et al., 2006). Subsets of social phobics have also been found to engage in risky behaviors such as alcohol and drug use as emotion regulation strategies to protect against anxiety responses in social scenarios (Kashdan and McKnight, 2010). ...
... Conversely, if differences in risk aversion depend on emotional responses triggered by social context (cf. Kashdan et al., 2006; Kashdan FIGURE 1 | Task. (A) Trials began with a backward-masked emotion face prime (fearful or happy face). ...
... Contrary to the common portrayal of social phobics as risk-averse and distrusting, the current study showed that the preference for risk on a social task correlated positively with social anxiety scores. As mentioned in the introduction, people with social anxiety have been found to employ risky behaviors as an emotion regulation strategy, especially when one expects positive outcomes to arise from these risks (Kashdan et al., 2006;Kashdan and McKnight, 2010). It is possible that in the modified version of the response game, in which the second players' choices do not affect their own payoffs, participants might have expected that the other player would grant the larger sum. ...
Article
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Decision neuroscience offers the potential for decomposing differences in behavior across individuals into components of valuation intimately tied to brain function. One application of this approach lies in novel conceptualizations of behavioral attributes that are aberrant in psychiatric disorders. We investigated the relationship between social anxiety and behavior in a novel socially determined risk task. Behaviorally, higher scores on a social phobia inventory (SPIN) among healthy participants were associated with an increase in risky responses. Furthermore, activity in a region of the dorsal anterior insula (dAI) scaled in proportion to SPIN score in risky versus non-risky choices. This region of the insula was functionally connected to areas in the intraparietal sulcus and anterior cingulate cortex that were related to decision-making across all participants. Overall, social anxiety was associated with decreased risk aversion in our task, consistent with previous results investigating risk taking in many everyday behaviors. Moreover, this difference was linked to the anterior insula, a region commonly implicated in risk attitudes and socio-emotional processes.
... Aggressiveness induced or exacerbated by acute alcohol intoxication is the consequence of the interrelation between a series of factors like gender, genetic "luggage", psychiatric comorbidities, blood alcohol level upon committing the violent act, and, naturally, factors related to the environment where individuals live and carry out their activities [37]. ...
... It has been proven that individuals with a predilect presence of antisocial elements found it the hardest to devise coping methods to overcome the pressure imposed by the pandemic. Particularly among persons diagnosed with borderline personality disorders, there was an increase in the frequency of depressive episodes and neurotic symptoms, even to a genuine overlapping, by diagnostic criteria, of an anxiety-spectrum disorder, with reports of self-aggressive tendencies and an increased propensity towards addictive disorders, to which these patients are already highly susceptible [32,37]. ...
... 60)". A cost-benefit analysis has been useful to explain different risky behaviors, such as heavy drinking, illicit drug use, and unprotected sex (Barnwell, Borders, & Earleywine, 2006;Kashdan, Collins, & Elhai, 2006). Moreover, a cost-benefit analysis can differentiate individuals who commit physical aggression from those who do not (Leadbeater, Boone, Sangster, & Mathieson, 2006). ...
... In fact, the costs of aggression can only explain the frequency of verbal-emotional aggression. In this point, a cost-benefit analysis is linked to different highrisk behaviors, including alcohol abuse, smoking, and other drug consumption, as well as to risky sexual behaviors (Barnwell et al., 2006;Kashdan et al., 2006). Given the existing literature, this work emphasizes the efficacy of outcome expectations to explain not only physical aggression (Leadbeater et al., 2006), but also male and female perpetration of both verbal-emotional and sexual aggression. ...
Article
Purpose The exposure to violence increases risk for future involvement; however, given that the transmission of violence is not universal, mechanisms underlying such association must be explored. The main aim of this study was to analyze the contribution of expected costs and benefits of aggressive behavior and romantic attachment to the association between past and present teen dating violence. Methods A stratified two-stage cluster sampling was used to select a sample of 593 high school students. Participants were between 15 and 18 years old (M = 16.97, SD = 0.95; 41.82% male and 58.18% female) and were either currently involved or had been involved in at least one serious relationship in the previous 12 months. Results An association between past and current aggressive behavior in dating relationships was found, as well as between dating violence and expected benefits of aggression. Other analyzed variables were found to have little or no influence on current dating violence perpetration (i.e., verbal-emotional, physical and sexual). Conclusions This study offers evidence of the importance of early intervention. In addition, it is essential to change adolescent perceptions regarding any expected benefits of aggression and to promote skills as an alternative to violence.
... Kashdan and Steger (2006) found that socially anxious people (i.e., 1 SD above the mean) experience less intense positive emotions and 39% fewer positive events in their daily lives compared to nonanxious people. Kashdan, Collins, and Elhai (2006) further found that social anxiety predicted fewer daily positive emotional and social experiences, even beyond the contribution of posttraumatic stress disorder or trait negative affect. One study (Kashdan & Collins, 2010) used random prompts for emotional experiences in-the-moment using electronic recording (vs. ...
... Consistent with this line of reasoning, a subset of socially anxious people has been found that use qualitatively different strategies to regulate their emotions (and, plausibly, to process socially relevant information) that contribute to risk-prone approach behavior (Hofmann, Heinrichs, & Moscovitch, 2004;Kachin, Newman, & Pincus, 2001;Kashdan, Collins, & Elhai, 2006;Kashdan, Elhai, & Breen, 2008). For instance, a socially anxious individual might argue with an acquaintance-ostracizing them-to gain a sense of dominance before the other person gets a chance to even consider rejecting them. ...
Chapter
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The primary purpose of this chapter is to review neglected, under-appreciated elements of positivity that are relevant to the phenomenology and treatment of social anxiety disorder (SAD), and distinguish SAD from other emotional disorders. We present theory and research on infrequent positive events, attenuated positive experiences, impaired attention to positive stimuli, atypical reactions to overtly positive social situations, and a meaningful subset of individuals who show signs of impulsive, short-lived positive events. Methodological advances are introduced along with new avenues for enhancing positive experiences, positive events, and a sense of meaning and purpose in life in individuals with social anxiety difficulties. Taken together, this chapter broadens theory, research, and treatment efforts to encapsulate the positive spectrum of human functioning.
... S ignificant advances over the past decade in prevention and intervention efforts for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) have been made; however, certain groups remain at disproportionate risk for HIV infection. One at-risk group includes young men who have sex with men (YMSM), who accounted for 68% of infections in all young people (ages [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24] in the United States in 2008. 1 Despite the increased risk for HIV infection faced by YMSM, there is a paucity of research and interventions targeting this high-risk group. 2 Until an efficacious biomedical prevention method is identified, human behavior is at the epicenter of HIV prevention efforts and is the primary modifiable factor in reducing future HIV infection. 3 High-risk sexual behavior is the primary manner through which individuals become infected with HIV. ...
... 12,13 Psychiatric disorders may theoretically be predictive of sexual risk behavior in YMSM. 2 For example, individuals meeting criteria for MDD may engage in reduced self-care and depressive symptoms may contribute to difficulties in engaging in healthy behaviors. 14 Individuals meeting criteria for PTSD are likely to experience elevated levels of anxiety and stress, which have been linked to increased risky behavior 15 and maladaptive coping. 16 The literature has been highly variable when reporting on the relationship between MDD and PTSD diagnoses and/or symptoms and sexual risk behaviors in both older adult MSM and YMSM. ...
Article
Full-text available
Young men who have sex with men (YMSM) account for two-thirds of new HIV infections in young people in the United States. Identifying between-person and within-person correlates of sexual risk-taking provides critical information for developing behavioral prevention efforts for this group. Possible predictors of sexual-risk behavior in YMSM include major depressive disorder (MDD), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and variation in psychological distress over time. To date, research has been equivocal with regard to the relationship between psychiatric disorders, psychological distress, and sexual risk behaviors. Participants included 119 16-20-year-old YMSM. Ethnicity/race of the participants included: black/African-American (46.2%), white (19.3%), Latino/Hispanic (12.6%), multiracial (11.8%), Asian/Pacific Islander (2.5%), and other (5.9%). Sexual risk outcomes included total number of male partners and unprotected anal sex acts across four waves of data collection (24 months). The study found that the between-person correlates, including ethnicity and age, predicted total male partners. Between-person correlates, including ethnicity, MDD, and a moderating effect of PTSD on psychological distress emerged as determinants of unprotected anal sex acts.
... It has been argued that individuals who are anxious are less likely and willing to take perceived risks across multiple behavioral domains (e.g., social, recreational, financial etc.), and this bias is believed to be implicated in the development and maintenance of pathological anxiety through widespread avoidance and subsequent maintenance of maladaptive risk-related appraisals (Maner and Schmidt, 2006; Maner et al., 2007). Risk-avoidance (as measured by self-report and/or behavioral decision-making tasks) has been found to be associated with high trait anxiety (e.g., Eisenberg et al., 1998; Maner and Schmidt, 2006) as well as symptoms of social phobia (SP; Kashdan et al., 2006; Lorian and Grisham, 2010; Maner, et al., 2007), obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD; Cavedini et al., 2006; Cicolini and Rees, 2003; Nielen et al., 2002; Starcke et al., 2010) and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD; Mueller et al., 2010). Although evidence is accumulating, there has been minimal research investigating the characteristics of riskavoidance across anxiety disorders and across the specific risk-taking domains (see argument for domain-specific approach for risk-taking; Weber, 2010; Weber et al., 2002). ...
... This is in contrast to previous studies that have found SP symptomatology to be associated with reduced risk-taking in samples high in social anxiety (Lorian and Grisham, 2010, 2011; Maner and Schmidt, 2006; Maner, et al., 2007 ). While limited sample size may explain these findings , there is also some evidence to suggest the existence of a disinhibited, risk-prone subtype of SP, which accounted for 21% of those with a primary diagnosis of SP in one largescale study (Kashdan and McKnight, 2010; Kashdan et al., 2006 Kashdan et al., , 2008 Kashdan et al., , 2009). Likewise, some decision-making studies have found social anxiety to be associated with increased risk-taking on instrumental risk-taking tasks (e.g., Miu et al., 2008). ...
Article
It has been argued that individuals who are anxious are less likely and willing to take perceived risks across multiple behavioral domains (e.g., social, recreational, financial etc.), and that this bias is likely implicated in the etiology of pathological anxiety. While evidence is accumulating, there has been minimal research investigating the characteristics of risk-avoidance across anxiety disorders and across the specific risk-taking domains. The current study investigated risk-avoidance across domains in an anxious treatment-seeking sample. We hypothesized that: (i) individuals with anxiety would be more risk averse across domains relative to healthy controls; and, (ii) risk-avoidance would predict unique variance in anxiety symptoms, above and beyond other vulnerability factors (e.g., neuroticism). Individuals diagnosed with one or more anxiety disorders (n=67) completed measures of risk-taking, anxiety and depression symptoms, personality, and psychological distress. Healthy controls (n=58) completed measures of risk-taking and psychological distress. Results partially confirmed our hypotheses, demonstrating that anxious individuals were significantly more risk averse relative to controls across most domains, even after controlling for age and psychological distress. Furthermore, specific domains were found to account for unique variance in specific anxiety symptoms, as well as symptoms of depression. The results of this study provide novel evidence to suggest that risk-aversion is a possible transdiagnostic factor contributing to anxiety pathology.
... The broadly understood aggression may be an important element of mental disorders. Here, it is important to note the well-studied mechanism of increased aggression as a result of increased anxiety [11]. Secondly, some individuals may exhibit aggressive behaviour as an expression of frustration at the constraints of the pandemic. ...
Article
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Aim of the study There are many studies about mental health during periods of various epidemics. In this study, it was decided to find how the studied parameters changed during six months in 2020. Subject or material and methods A total of 105 results were obtained from respondents who met all inclusion criteria for the study. 84 people (80.00%) are women and 21 (20.00%) are men. The study included socio-demographic parameters and psychological scales: AUDIT — to determine alcohol consumption, GAD-7 — to measure the anxiety and the Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire. Results Anxiety levels decreased in the entire study population and some subgroups. Higher levels of anxiety were found among male respondents and health professionals. Increased levels of physical aggression were observed among respondents from small cities. A decrease in hostility was found among rural residents. A decrease in verbal aggression was noticed among those with secondary education. Increased levels of physical aggression were observed only among men, while verbal aggression and hostility were observed among those with secondary education. Higher alcohol consumption occurred among young people. Discussion The literature provides a wealth of data on various aspects of the mental health including aggression, anxiety and alcohol consumption. Our results are mostly in line with these, and show some features of adaptation in society. Conclusions Reductions in anxiety intensity may suggest some adaptive changes in society. Healthcare professionals are characterised by elevated anxiety levels relative to other respondents.
... Consequently, negative thoughts can produce negative emotions, ultimately exacerbating anxiety symptoms (Sharf, 2011). Numerous studies have indicated that negative automatic thoughts stemming from cognitive distortions are closely associated with anxiety symptoms (Kashdan et al., 2006;Kim, 2005;Mansell, 2004;Rheingold et al., 2003;Tairi et al., 2016;Weeks et al., 2017;Wilson et al., 2011). ...
Article
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Anxiety symptoms often relate to perceived negative parenting styles inherited from one's parents, impacting cognitive processes in interpersonal relationships. This study investigates the association between anxiety symptoms, parenting styles, and interpersonal cognitive distortions in individuals with anxiety disorders compared to healthy controls. The study involved 164 adult participants—82 with diagnosed anxiety disorders and 82 without psychiatric diagnoses, comprising 42 (26%) males and 122 (74%) females, aged 18-60 years (mean age = 30.5±8.84). Participants completed a demographic questionnaire, the Young Parenting Inventory, the Interpersonal Cognitive Distortions Scale, and the Beck Anxiety Inventory. The anxiety disorder group exhibited heightened levels of anxiety symptoms, interpersonal cognitive distortions, and specific maternal parenting styles (overprotective/unbounded, conditional/achievement-oriented, and pessimistic/anxious), as well as a paternal resistant/suppressive parenting style, in contrast to the control group. Interpersonal cognitive distortions were identified as mediators in the relationships between overprotective/unbounded maternal parenting and anxiety, as well as closed to change/repressing paternal parenting and anxiety. However, the diagnosis of anxiety disorder did not moderate the relationship between parenting styles and cognitive distortions. These findings emphasize the importance of targeting interpersonal cognition in treating and preventing anxiety disorders, especially in individuals with overprotective/unbounded mothers and resistant/suppressive fathers.
... Therefore, difficulties in emotional regulation make people more vulnerable to not taking into account the risk-namely, the risk of COVID-19 infection-associated with certain behaviors. Also, risk-taking behaviors can be seen in terms of defensive reactions employed to regulate and repair negative mood, for instance, through experiential avoidance [59]. Engaging in behaviors that pose a higher risk of COVID-19 behaviors could potentially be viewed as a form of emotional regulation, though a risky and inadaptive one. ...
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(1) Background: To mitigate COVID-19 transmission, global public health interventions were swiftly implemented. However, a comprehensive understanding of individual variations in adhering to these recommendations remains elusive. Addressing this gap is crucial for effectively managing future epidemic and pandemic scenarios. This study aims to explore individual differences in attachment, emotion regulation, and risk for COVID-19 infection using virtual reality (VR). (2) Methods: The sample included 73 (88%) university students and 10 (12%) university staff. Participants completed questionnaires on sociodemographic information, the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale, the Experiences in Close Relationships—Relationship Structures Questionnaire, and the fear of COVID-19 Scale. Additionally, each participant engaged in five daily situations using a VR simulator to assess the risk of COVID-19 infection. (3) Results: Our study revealed that high levels of attachment anxiety, difficulties controlling impulsive behaviors, and limited access to emotion regulation strategies were strong predictors of elevated risk of COVID-19 infection. Conversely, high levels of fear of COVID-19 and attachment avoidance were associated with lower risk of COVID-19 infection. (4) Conclusions: We discuss the importance of policymakers and health professionals being aware of some psychological characteristics that make it difficult for some individuals to adhere to public health measures involving social distancing.
... Our repeated measures dependent variable of choice was social anxiety (years 2005, 2007, 2009, and 2011). To assess the validity of our results, we identified four potential predictor variables that were available in the dataset and have been found to be related to social anxiety: biological sex, the tendency to worry, risk-taking behavior, and well-being [14][15][16][17][18][19]. After completing the initial assessments with both LGCM and the AUC, we used parameter estimates from these analyses as population parameters in Monte Carlo simulations. ...
Article
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Researchers conducting longitudinal data analysis in psychology and the behavioral sciences have several statistical methods to choose from, most of which either require specialized software to conduct or advanced knowledge of statistical methods to inform the selection of the correct model options (e.g., correlation structure). One simple alternative to conventional longitudinal data analysis methods is to calculate the area under the curve (AUC) from repeated measures and then use this new variable in one's model. The present study assessed the relative efficacy of two AUC measures: the AUC with respect to the ground (AUC-g) and the AUC with respect to the increase (AUC-i) in comparison to latent growth curve modeling (LGCM), a popular repeated measures data analysis method. Using data from the ongoing Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), we assessed the effects of four predictor variables on repeated measures of social anxiety, using both the AUC and LGCM. We used the full information maximum likelihood (FIML) method to account for missing data in LGCM and multiple imputation to account for missing data in the calculation of both AUC measures. Extracting parameter estimates from these models, we next conducted Monte Carlo simulations to assess the parameter bias and power (two estimates of performance) of both methods in the same models, with sample sizes ranging from 741 to 50. The results using both AUC measures in the initial models paralleled those of LGCM, particularly with respect to the LGCM baseline. With respect to the simulations, both AUC measures preformed as well or even better than LGCM in all sample sizes assessed. These results suggest that the AUC may be a viable alternative to LGCM, especially for researchers with less access to the specialized software necessary to conduct LGCM.
... Depressive individuals consider that they possess few assets and lack of future potential, thus their negative predictions about outcomes would make they may give up the opportunity (Leahy, 2001). Anxious individuals would exhibit significantly lesser risk-taking (Eisenberg, Baron, & Seligman, 1998;Kashdan, Collins, & Elhai, 2006;Lorian & Grisham, 2011;Maner & Schmidt, 2006) because they would expect less desirable outcomes, and they heighten perceptions of the likelihood and severity of negative outcomes (Eisenberg et al., 1998;Maner & Schmidt, 2006). On the contrary, optimistic and confident citizens would have a higher expectation for the consequence and engage in risky investment. ...
Article
By utilizing the China listed firms from 2007 to 2016, we explore the impact of air quality on firms' investment efficiency. Empirical result indicates that better air quality increases firms' overinvestment, finally causes a lower investment efficiency. This conclusion is robust to the alternative measurements of investment efficiency and air quality, and quantile regressions. Furtherly, our results are still effective after we addressed the endogenous problems by using instrumental variable regression. After that, this effect is pronounced before the ‘China Haze’ event. Next, we find that impact of air quality is more pronounced in firms with stronger product market competition, higher institutional shareholding, large board size, and lesser board meeting. Finally, high air quality would be beneficial for firms' long-term growth because overinvestment increased by air quality contributes to a higher innovation output.
... Anxiety-inspired risk-taking is not just bound to financial decisions. For example, under specific conditions, social anxiety predicts risk proneness in domains, such as drug use, heavy drinking, and unsafe sexual activity (Kashdan et al., 2006). High levels of anxiety also predict risky driving behavior, crashes, and driving under the influence (DUI) episodes (Dula et al., 2010). ...
Article
Experimental research and real-world events demonstrate a puzzling phenomenon—anxiety, which primarily inspires caution, sometimes precedes bouts of risk-taking. We conducted three studies to test whether this phenomenon is due to the regulation of anxiety via reactive approach motivation (RAM), which leaves people less sensitive to negative outcomes and thus more likely to take risks. In Study 1 ( N = 231), an achievement anxiety threat caused increased risk-taking on the Behavioral Analogue Risk Task (BART) among trait approach-motivated participants. Using electroencephalogram in Study 2 ( N = 97), an economic anxiety threat increased behavioral inhibition system-specific theta activity, a neural correlate of anxiety, which was associated with an increase in risk-taking on the BART among trait approach-motivated participants. In a preregistered Study 3 ( N = 432), we replicated the findings of Study 1. These results offer preliminary support for the reactive risk-taking hypothesis.
... One of those has shown that anxiety disorders may predispose people to increased alcohol consumption [23]. Another study that focused on social anxiety showed that this type of anxiety also contributed primarily to increasing aggression levels and less to increasing alcohol consumption [24]. It is also worth emphasizing that a high level of alcohol consumption often causes aggressive behaviour. ...
Article
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Background and objectives: There have been many reports of mental health in the pandemic period. The research conducted so far has indicated an increase in the severity of anxiety and aggression and an escalation of alcohol consumption during the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between the severity of anxiety, the amount of alcohol consumed and the severity of aggression. Materials and Methods: A total of 538 Polish residents—413 women (76.77%) and 125 men (23.23%)—participated in the study via an online survey. It included socio-demographic parameters and psychological scales: AUDIT—to determine the model of alcohol consumption, GAD-7—to measure the severity of anxiety and the Buss–Perry Aggression Questionnaire. Results: There was a correlation between the severity of anxiety and generalized aggression, and its two components—anger and hostility—in the entire study group. Moreover, relations were found between the intensity of alcohol consumption and generalized aggression and its components—anger and verbal and physical aggression. Those relationships turned out to be gender specific. The increased anxiety intensity affected the pattern of alcohol consumption and the severity of aggression. Conclusions: Psychotherapeutic and psychoeducational interactions and some elements of psychiatric treatment should aim at reducing the severity of anxiety in society, and thus minimizing the health and social consequences—aggressive behaviour and excessive alcohol consumption.
... A number of studies investigated the relationship between anxiety and propensity to risk-taking behavior in different decision-making domains [34][35][36][37]. Various research have documented that individual differences in anxiety are associated with risk-avoidant decision-making. ...
Article
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Despite the enforced lockdown regime in late March 2019 in Russia, the phenomenon of the continued virus spreading highlighted the importance of studies investigating the range of biosocial attributes and spectrum of individual motivations underlying the permanent presence of the substantial level of spatial activity. For this matter, we conducted a set of surveys between March and June 2020 (N = 492). We found that an individual’s health attitude is the most consistent factor explaining mobility differences. However, our data suggested that wariness largely determines adequate health attitudes; hence, a higher level of wariness indirectly reduced individual mobility. Comparative analysis revealed the critical biosocial differences between the two sexes, potentially rooted in the human evolutionary past. Females were predisposed to express more wariness in the face of new environmental risks; therefore, they minimize their mobility and outdoor contacts. In contrast to them, the general level of spatial activity reported by males was significantly higher. Wariness in the males’ sample was less associated with the novel virus threat, but to a great extent, it was predicted by the potential economic losses variable. These findings correspond to the evolutionary predictions of sexual specialization and the division of family roles.
... Indeed, there is some naturalistic evidence for such a 179 mechanism. Some individuals with high levels of social anxiety demonstrate high levels of risk--taking 180 behaviour on questionnaire measures (Kashdan et al., 2006, Kashdan et al., 2008, Kashdan and 181 McKnight, 2010. This may, in turn, explain some of the discrepancies across prior studies. ...
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Stress can precipitate the onset of mood and anxiety disorders. This may occur, at least in part, via a modulatory effect of stress on decision-making. Some individuals are, however, more resilient to the effects of stress than others. The mechanisms underlying such vulnerability differences are nevertheless unknown. In this study we attempted to begin quantifying individual differences in vulnerability by exploring the effect of experimentally induced stress on decision-making. Threat of unpredictable shock was used to induce stress in healthy volunteers (N=47) using a within-subjects, within-session design, and its impact on a financial decision-making task (the Iowa Gambling Task) was assessed alongside anxious and depressive symptomatology. As expected, participants learned to select advantageous decks and avoid disadvantageous decks. Importantly, we found that stress provoked a pattern of harm-avoidant behaviour (decreased selection of disadvantageous decks) in individuals with low levels of trait anxiety. By contrast, individuals with high trait anxiety demonstrated the opposite pattern: stress-induced risk-seeking (increased selection of disadvantageous decks). These contrasting influences of stress depending on mood and anxiety symptoms might provide insight into vulnerability to common mental illness. In particular, we speculate that those who adopt a more harm-avoidant strategy may be better able to regulate their exposure to further environmental stress, reducing their susceptibility to mood and anxiety disorders. The threat of shock paradigm we employed might therefore hold promise as a ‘stress-test’ for determining individual vulnerability to mood and anxiety disorders.
... Anxiety might increase HIV-risk behavior through avoidant coping and disengagement [11]. Social anxiety predicts poor condom use communication and actual condom use [12,13]. Gay and bisexual men with PTSD report a nearly three-fold greater likelihood of recent condomless anal sex than those without PTSD [14]. ...
Article
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Background: Young gay and bisexual men disproportionately experience depression, anxiety, and substance use problems and are among the highest risk group for HIV infection in the U.S. Diverse methods locate the source of these health disparities in young gay and bisexual men's exposure to minority stress. In fact, minority stress, psychiatric morbidity, substance use, and HIV risk fuel each other, forming a synergistic threat to young gay and bisexual men's health. Yet no known intervention addresses minority stress to improve mental health, substance use problems, or their joint impact on HIV risk in this population. This paper describes the design of a study to test the efficacy of such an intervention, called ESTEEM (Effective Skills to Empower Effective Men), a 10-session skills-building intervention designed to reduce young gay and bisexual men's co-occurring health risks by addressing the underlying cognitive, affective, and behavioral pathways through which minority stress impairs health. Methods: This study, funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, is a three-arm randomized controlled trial to examine (1) the efficacy of ESTEEM compared to community mental health treatment and HIV counseling and testing and (2) whether ESTEEM works through its hypothesized cognitive, affective, and behavioral minority stress processes. Our primary outcome, measured 8 months after baseline, is condomless anal sex in the absence of PrEP or known undetectable viral load of HIV+ primary partners. Secondary outcomes include depression, anxiety, substance use, sexual compulsivity, and PrEP uptake, also measured 8 months after baseline. Discussion: Delivering specific stand-alone treatments for specific mental, behavioral, and sexual health problems represents the current state of evidence-based practice. However, dissemination and implementation of this one treatment-one problem approach has not been ideal. A single intervention that reduces young gay and bisexual men's depression, anxiety, substance use, and HIV risk by reducing the common minority stress pathways across these problems would represent an efficient, cost-effective alternative to currently isolated approaches, and holds great promise for reducing sexual orientation health disparities among young men. Trial registration: Registered October 10, 2016 to ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02929069 .
... Over the three-month period in which these participants were studied, the approach-oriented group engaged in more social activity and risk-taking behaviours than the avoidance-oriented group, but these behaviours coalesced with more self-judgements during these activities, fewer social benefits, and increased psychological conflict over the recognition of potential threats and rewards for their risky behaviours. Another study investigating the different appraisals among socially anxious individuals found that the relationship between social anxiety and risk-taking was mediated by the expectancy of positive outcomes, where socially anxious participants expecting desirable outcomes had increased risk-taking intentions, and those expecting worse outcomes had fewer risk-taking intentions [77]. These studies overall suggest that various cognitions related to impulsivity can effectively differentiate the anxious-impulsive and anxious-inhibited subgroups, and this distinction implicates different resulting behaviours and outcomes. ...
Article
Anxiety disorders and substance use disorders (SUDs) frequently co-occur, and individuals with this comorbidity demonstrate exacerbated impairment and poorer treatment outcomes compared to individuals with only one of the disorders. This paper reviews the potential mechanisms underlying this comorbidity, with a particular focus on the influence of impulsivity. There is an atypical subset of individuals with anxiety disorders that display elevated impulsivity, and it is suggested that these individuals account for the clinically relevant group of anxiety disorder patients that have a concurrent SUD. Patients with anxiety disorders that show increased impulsivity, particularly within the negative urgency (NU) sub-domain, appear to have a predisposition to engage in risky behaviours to cope with their anxiety symptoms, which includes substance use. Given the promise of impulsivity and NU as endophenotypes of this anxiety-SUD comorbidity, it is recommended that future research investigate gene variants that modulate impulsivity and NU to establish biomarkers predicting an increased risk of a concurrent SUD among anxiety disorder patients. This subtype and endophenotypic investigation may ultimately establish treatment targets that can lead to greater personalization of treatments for the subgroup of anxiety disorder patients that have comorbid SUDs.
... Desde el inicio del SXXI, se intensiicó el interés por estudiar a la fobia social, las primeras investigaciones se realizaron en muestras de adultos (Kashdan & Herbert, 2001), sin embargo, frente a una creciente cantidad de investigaciones que reportan correlaciones positivas entre la ansiedad social y diversas problemáticas adolescentes (Kashdan, Collins, & Elhai, 2006), se le considera como un factor de riesgo que puede impactar negativamente el proceso de adaptación en ese sector de la población (Rao et al., 2007). ...
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p>Gradualmente se incrementa la investigación acerca de la fobia social, argumentando asociación entre ésta y diversas medidas de disfuncionalidad. Se obtuvieron datos sociodemográficos, mediciones de ansiedad social y de consumo de alcohol, de 3164 adolescentes mexicanos escolarizados voluntarios (hombres y mujeres) entre 12 y 18 años de edad ( = 14.7, DE 1.7), turno escolar (matutino o vespertino) y actividades extracurriculares (realizar o no actividades deportivas, artísticas y tener o no una relación de noviazgo). Se formaron dos grupos: el primero con bajo y el segundo con alto grado de ansiedad social, y se compararon sus niveles de consumo de alcohol, encontrando que: contrario a lo que establece la literatura del tema en adultos, el patrón de consumo de alcohol en los grupos de adolescentes de alta y baja ansiedad social, no presentó diferencias estadísticamente significativas (X2 = 1.201, gl = 2, p = .361). Probablemente, las diferencias reportadas en el consumo de alcohol entre adultos social y no socialmente ansiosos, surjan sólo en ciertas variantes de la fobia social, o bien, se requiere de otras variables mediadoras, entre fobia social y el consumo abusivo de alcohol.</p
... At-risk youth continue to develop a growing expectancy that drinking alcohol reduces negative feelings and enhances positive ones (Colder, Chassin, Stice, & Curran, 1997), and research shows that this belief increases the likelihood to initiate alcohol use (Reese, Chassin, & Molina, 1994). One study found that social anxiety predicted alcohol use only when the participants also expected positive outcomes from their use (Kashdan, Collins, & Elhai, 2006). Positive expectancies about alcohol use combine with a persistent experience of internalizing symptoms to increase the risk for problematic alcohol use. ...
Article
Background: Most studies that investigate internalizing problems (i.e., depression and anxiety symptoms) and alcohol use disorders use variable-centered approaches, losing important information about differences among individuals. Objectives: To group college students by different profiles of alcohol-use risk factors using a person-centered cluster analysis in two separate samples. Methods: Questionnaires were used in both studies to assess positive expectancies regarding alcohol use, coping motives for alcohol use, and symptoms of depression and anxiety. In the first study (2012), we collected information about past month alcohol use, including frequency and binge drinking episode (n = 171). In the second study (2013), we also included measures of externalizing behaviors and negative alcohol-related consequences (n = 526). Results: In Study 1, the cluster analysis identified four groups of students who displayed different patterns of risk: a low-risk group, moderate cognitions/low internalizing cluster, a high internalizing/low coping motives group of drinkers, and a high internalizing/high coping motives cluster of drinkers. This fourth group showed high levels of depression, moderate anxiety, high positive expectancies and coping motives for alcohol use, and reported the highest frequency of alcohol use. Study 2 replicated the findings from the previous study. Three groups of individuals were identified, replicating the low-risk cluster, the moderate cognitions/low internalizing cluster, and the internalizing cluster of drinkers from Study 1. Participants in the latter cluster endorsed the highest number of negative consequences of alcohol use. Conclusions: Results from both studies highlight the importance of tailoring alcohol abuse prevention efforts to a subgroup young adult who endorse internalizing symptoms.
... Although little research has considered the association between shyness and antisocial personality problems, there is emerging research examining the co-morbidity of social anxiety disorder and antisocial personality disorder, with a subset of socially anxious individuals displaying impulsive responses (e.g., Kachin, Newman, & Pincus, 2001;Kashdan, Collins, & Elhai, 2006). While we did not assess social anxiety or antisocial personality disorders in the present study explicitly, adults with conflicted shyness have been shown to display symptoms consistent with social anxiety such as fear of negative evaluation (Cheek & Buss, 1981;Nelson, 2013;Poole et al., 2017). ...
Article
Emerging evidence suggests that conflicted shyness (combination of shyness and sociability) places individuals at risk for maladjustment in childhood, adolescence, and emerging adulthood. However, it is not known (1) if this risk for maladjustment persists into adulthood, (2) the extent to which it is generalizable to a broad range of adaptive domains, and (3) if there are mechanisms that might underlie the link between the conflicted shyness phenotype and domains of functioning. Here, we find that the combination of shyness and sociability (i.e., conflicted shyness) places individuals in their thirties at the greatest risk for poor functioning across demographic, health, interpersonal, and psychological domains above and beyond shyness alone. We also report that attention and loneliness may be factors that underlie the risk for poor mental health in individuals characterized by conflicted shyness. Our findings extend work on conflicted shyness by considering several domains of functioning beyond emerging adulthood and suggest possible mechanisms linking this phenotype with symptoms of psychopathology. Findings suggest that the conflicted shyness subtype may be associated with negative consequences across various domains of functioning and across developmental periods at least until the fourth decade of life.
... O medo de avaliação negativa, como substrato cognitivo, parece estar mais relacionado com a resposta emocional de ansiedade e dificuldades de interação, enquanto que nem todos os sujeitos que têm elevados valores de ansiedade social apresentam, obrigatoriamente, altos valores de evitamento de situações sociais, enquanto resposta comportamental (Beck et al., 1985;Clark, 2005). Pelo contrário, os sujeitos com elevado medo de avaliação negativa e ansiedade em situações sociais, podem apresentar diferentes respostas comportamentais como por exemplo, agressividade e impulsividade (Kashdan & Hofmann, 2008;Kashdan & McKnight, 2010;Kashdan, Collins, & Elhai, 2006), consumo de substâncias (Rapee & Spence, 2004), entre outros comportamentos de segurança. ...
... Subjektivno očekivani i predvidljivi pozitivni ili poželjni učinci od uzimanja droga i alkohola mogu objasniti zašto je ova uporaba široko prihvaćena. Naime, svaki pojedinac ima prirodnu, ljudsku potrebu za doživljavanjem ugode ili otklanjanjem neugodnog osjećaja poput boli, patnje, potištenosti, stresa i slično, a osobito kad je riječ o socijalno anksioznim pojedincima koji se zbog poželjnog ishoda upuštaju u rizične aktivnosti poput agresivnog ponašanja, nezaštićenih seksualnih odnosa, teškog opijanja i zlouporabe droga (Kashdan, 2006). Stoga valja podsjetiti kako zlouporaba droga i alkohola predstavlja neprirodan, rizičan i štetan te u većini država normativno neprihvatljiv način zadovoljavanja potreba pojedinca unatoč uznapredovalom europskom trendu dekriminalizacije i/ili depenalizacije koji, primjerice, opravdano zagovara pristup smanjenja štete (engl. ...
Article
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Similar to other behavioural disorders, models of drug and alcohol abuse stem from interaction of several factors such as social settings, biological and psychological configuration, individual’s personality dimensions as well as psychoactive effect of drug. To-date research predominantly targeted consequences of drug and alcohol abuse, treatment, rehabilitation and the explanation of dependent person’s behaviour. Much less effort and research addressed the issue of personality as a potent predisposition risk factor and its effect on this phenomenon. Although personality does not develop as a separate entity, drug abuse, amongst other factors, is initiated by different personality traits, cognitive processes, person’s expectancies and psychopathology. In the light of that, this article contains results of psychological research which indicate risk factors and their interactive relationships within general personality construct. These findings therefore relevantly contribute to the development of effective prevention programmes, risk groups identification and early treatment interventions.
... There are two theoretical explanations for how worries might precipitate risky behaviors. First, engaging in certain risky behaviors, such as substance use, can be a source of temporary relief and distraction from worry (Cooper et al., 2000) and provide a false sense of control (Kashdan, Collins, & Elhai, 2006). Second, worry about social relationships may motivate adolescents to engage in risky behaviors as a way to gain acceptance from peers. ...
Article
With worries and risky behaviors becoming more prominent in adolescence, this study investigated bidirectional temporal connections between these two important adolescent concerns, that is, whether change in one concern is linked to change in the other either within the same day or during the next day. We also tested whether the coping strategy of seeking support from family and friends moderated the link between worries and risky behaviors. For 10 days, an ethnically and racially diverse sample of adolescents (N = 103; M age = 18.0) reported on 26 common worries, 18 risky behaviors, and the impact of seeking support from others. Multilevel models showed that worries and risky behaviors covaried on the same day and that worries predicted next-day risky behavior for male but not female participants. In contrast, risky behaviors did not predict next-day worries. For adolescents reporting negative experiences of support seeking, worries led to next-day risky behaviors and risky behaviors led to next-day worries. Female adolescents' positive support-seeking experiences buffered the association between risky behaviors and next-day worries. These results were significant beyond any influence of daily negative mood or depressive and anxiety symptoms. The data demonstrate that worries and risky behaviors may be situational triggers for each other and highlight the importance, from intervention perspectives, of adolescents' communication of concerns to others.
... In addition, adolescents who believe that risk behaviors will result in positive outcomes (e.g., respect from peers) may be more likely to engage in that behavior. For instance, adolescents who believe that aggression is effective are more likely to engage in proactive and reactive aggression (Crapanzano, Frick, & Terranova, 2010; see also Kashdan, Collins, & Elhai, 2006). Hostile schemas (e.g., viewing the world as a dangerous or unsafe), hostile attribution bias (misattribution of hostile intent in ambiguous social situations) have also been identified as important antecedents to reactive aggression Dodge & Rabiner, 2004). ...
... Others see anxiety as a possible mediator in settings where both impulsivity and aggression interact [14] or conclude that impulsivity has the same effect on aggression, in this case physical, regardless of the level of anxiety [15]. Hostile impulses have been included among known risk-prone activities for social anxiety disorder in response to impulsive decision-making [16]. Impulsivity has been linked to 2 different classes of social anxiety disorder, one of which is associated with higher levels of anger, aggression, sexual impulsivity and substance abuse [17] [18]. ...
Article
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Abstract Evidence is growing that aggressive behavior and impulsivity have subgroups. The subscales of the Urgency, Premeditation, Perseverance and Sensation seeking (UPPS) impulsivity scale and the Bryant and Smith shortened and refined version of the Aggression Questionnaire were used to describe and compare impulsive and aggressive behavior in extremely violent and aggressive male inmates and non-violent healthy male controls. The Mann-Whitney test showed that there was a significant difference (p < 0. 006) in the total UPPS impulsivity scale scores between the aggressive inmates and the controls. The subscales revealed that this difference was based mainly on the urgency score (p < 0. 003). On the aggression subscales, the inmates scored significantly higher for physical aggression than the controls (p < 0.001), but no significant difference was seen between inmates and controls for verbal aggression, anger and hostility, although the exact pvalue was very close to statistical significance at 0.054. Regression analysis revealed a strong relationship between urgency and the aggression subscales hostility (p = 0.0004) and anger (p = 0.003) and that urgency was also linked to symptoms of anxiety (p = 0.008). Finally, a statistically significant link was found between both hostility (p = 0.0003) and anger (p = 0.002) and symptoms of anxiety. The highly selected subgroup of extremely violent criminals in this study were more physically aggressive than non-violent controls, with urgency as the driving feature in their impulsive behavior, and hostility, anger and symptoms of anxiety as underlying traits.
... However, there is reason to expect heterogeneity in the self-regulatory strategies used to cope with potential rejection. At least a subset of individuals with social anxiety difficulties use qualitatively different strategies that are best described as risk-prone, approach behavior (Kashdan, Collins, & Elhai, 2006;Kashdan, Elhai, & Breen, 2008;Kashdan & Hofmann, 2008;Kashdan, McKnight, Richey, & Hofmann, 2009). For instance, an individual with social anxiety difficulties might find amusement by mocking someone else to win the favor of a crowd and have fun. ...
Article
When there is an opportunity to engage in an activity that can generate positive experiences, people with emotional disturbances might be expected to be less successful than other people. Despite the appeal of this formulation, there is reason to believe that attenuated positive experiences are only relevant to a selective number of disturbances. This chapter discusses recent advances in the phenomenology of social anxiety. This includes data showing that social anxiety is associated with low intensity, short-lived positive experiences, infrequent positive events, and distinct cognitive biases that restrict the quality of life. For decades, psychologists have advocated a single, bipolar continuum with positive emotions and approach behavior at one endpoint, and negative emotions and avoidance behavior as the other endpoint. However, recent research in personality, motivation, and social neuroscience suggests that there are two separate biobehavioral systems that reflect very different purposes. Specifically, on the one hand, there is an avoidance system whose purpose is to prevent people from being exposed to danger. To meet this aim, behavior that might lead to pain, punishment, or other undesirable outcomes is inhibited. On the other hand, independent from the avoidance system, there is an approach system whose purpose is to guide people toward situations that might offer rewards. To meet this aim, attention and energy are mobilized to pursue activities that can generate resources such as food, the cooperation of others, sexual partners, and knowledge that provides an evolutionary advantage for survival and reproduction.
... Desde el inicio del SXXI, se intensiicó el interés por estudiar a la fobia social, las primeras investigaciones se realizaron en muestras de adultos (Kashdan & Herbert, 2001), sin embargo, frente a una creciente cantidad de investigaciones que reportan correlaciones positivas entre la ansiedad social y diversas problemáticas adolescentes (Kashdan, Collins, & Elhai, 2006), se le considera como un factor de riesgo que puede impactar negativamente el proceso de adaptación en ese sector de la población (Rao et al., 2007). ...
Article
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The study of social phobia is gradually increasing, arguing association between social phobia and multiple measures of dysfunction. After institutional approval, and in accordance with the ethical principles required for social research, socio-demographic data, measurements of social anxiety and alcohol consumption pattern, were obtained from 3164 Mexican adolescents volunteers (men and women) ages 12-18 years ( ), in different school schedule (morning or afternoon) and with record of their extracurricular activities” (to participate or not in sports, arts and been involved or not in a dating relationship). The participants were divided into two groups, according to the score on the Social Anxiety Scale for Adolescents: high (n = 524) ( ), and low (n = 2640)( ), degree of social anxiety. Also, their levels of alcohol consumption were compared. The results of the study showed that: In contrast to the suggested by the literature in adults, the pattern of alcohol consumption in adolescents of low social anxiety group and the high social anxiety group, did not presented statistically significant differences (X2 = 1.201, gl = 2, p = .361). A likely explanation of these reported differences in drinking among socially anxious and not socially anxious adults, is that they occur only in certain variants of social phobia, or maybe, it requires other mediating variables between social phobia and alcohol abuse.
... One complicating factor is that anger is an approach-oriented emotion which induces a desire to take action and a sense of control over a situation or others (Frijda 1986;Lerner and Keltner 2001). 2 Similarly, risk-takers exhibit an increased desire for control (Keinan, Meir, and Gome-Nemirovsky 1984) and individuals engage in risky behavior as a way of restoring a sense of control, at least in the short term (Kashdan, Collins, and Elhai 2006). The confound lies in that ostracism changes motivation both by increasing anger and threatening the primary need for control (Williams 2001), both states which are hypothesized to increase risky and unregulated behavior. ...
Article
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The present research tested the effects of being ostracized on risk-taking behavior and how emotional responses to ostracism mediate these effects. In two experiments, undergraduates were either ostracized or included during an Internet ball-toss game (Cyberball). In Experiment 1 (N = 52), ostracism increased self-reported risk-taking inclinations, and the relation between ostracism and risk-taking was mediated by feelings of anger, but not control. In Experiment 2 (N = 72), ostracism increased risky driving during a driving video game. The effect of ostracism on risk-taking was again mediated by post-ostracism anger (but not control or ostracism-induced sadness). This research suggests that anger elicited by ostracism may increase risk-taking.
... Finally, further research examining the links between positive affect and ER as they relate to aggression is needed. Prior studies have demonstrated that anger elicitation is associated with increased positive affect (Harmon-Jones, Harmon-Jones, Abramson, & Peterson, 2009), and positive outcome expectancies are associated with aggression (Kashdan, Collins, & Elhai, 2006). Given that aggression is an approach behavior, it may be precipitated by dysregulation of either negatively or positively valenced states. ...
Article
Research on violence has highlighted the role of trait negative affect in reactive aggressive behavior. Emotion dysregulation is a multidimensional construct reflecting maladaptive ways in which a person experiences and responds to emotional states, and has also been empirically linked to aggression. This study sought to test the hypothesis that multiple facets of emotion dysregulation would mediate the relationship between negative affect and physical aggression in a nonclinical sample. An additional aim was to examine the moderating effect of sex in the relationship between negative affect and aggression, and whether mediators differ as a function of sex. Three-hundred and eighteen participants completed measures of physical aggression, difficulties in emotion regulation, and negative affect. Results showed that sex moderated the relationship between negative affect and physical aggression, and emotion dysregulation fully mediated the relationship between these variables in both males and females. While difficulty inhibiting impulsive behavior when distressed was a significant mediator across sexes, difficulties with emotional awareness demonstrated a mediation effect only in males. Findings provide preliminary support for the facets of emotion dysregulation that are important in understanding the negative affect – physical aggression association in males and females.
... This finding is at odds with the expectation that loss aversion might be a facet of harm avoidance, a well-recognized feature of anxiety (Lorian and Grisham, 2010;Maner et al., 2007;Mueller et al., 2010). The next set of findings may shed light on this surprising result by suggesting that the absence of diagnostic-group differences might be related to the variability of loss aversion across anxious individuals, which identifies a subgroup of risk-prone anxious adolescents, as described in previous work (Erwin et al., 2003;Kachin et al., 2001;Kashdan et al., 2006Kashdan and Hofmann, 2008). ...
Article
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Loss aversion, a well-documented behavioral phenomenon, characterizes decisions under risk in adult populations. As such, loss aversion may provide a reliable measure of risky behavior. Surprisingly, little is known about loss aversion in adolescents, a group who manifests risk-taking behavior, or in anxiety disorders, which are associated with risk-avoidance. Finally, loss aversion is expected to be modulated by genotype, particularly the serotonin transporter (SERT) gene variant, based on its role in anxiety and impulsivity. This genetic modulation may also differ between anxious and healthy adolescents, given their distinct propensities for risk taking. The present work examines the modulation of loss aversion, an index of risk-taking, and reaction-time to decision, an index of impulsivity, by the serotonin-transporter-gene-linked polymorphisms (5HTTLPR) in healthy and clinically anxious adolescents. Findings show that loss aversion (1) does manifest in adolescents, (2) does not differ between healthy and clinically anxious participants, and (3), when stratified by SERT genotype, identifies a subset of anxious adolescents who are high SERT-expressers, and show excessively low loss-aversion and high impulsivity. This last finding may serve as preliminary evidence for 5HTTLPR as a risk factor for the development of comorbid disorders associated with risk-taking and impulsivity in clinically anxious adolescents.
... In contrast, depressive symptoms and anxiety symptoms significantly mediated the relationship between sexual assault history and use of sexual behavior as an affect regulation strategy among women of all four ethnic groups. This finding is consistent with prior studies supporting that both depression (Swanholm, Vosvick, & Chng, 2009) and anxiety (Kashdan, Collins, & Elhai, 2006) are associated with risky sexual behaviors such as engaging in casual sex, sex with multiple partners, and inconsistent condom use among college women. As stated previously, this finding could potentially reflect the fact that broader social norms may be more influential in affecting college women's sexual behaviors and motives. ...
Article
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Sexual assault is associated with a number of health risk behaviors in women. It has been hypothesized that these risk behaviors, such as hazardous drinking, may represent women’s attempts to cope with psychological distress, such as symptoms of depression and anxiety. However, extant research has failed to evaluate these relationships among ethnic minority samples or identify the mechanisms responsible for this association. The current study examined sexual assault history and two health risk behaviors (hazardous drinking and engaging in sexual behavior to regulate negative affect) in a diverse sample of 1,620 college women. Depression and anxiety were examined as mediators of the relationship between sexual assault and health risk behaviors. There was evidence of moderated mediation, such that for European American women, but not for ethnic minority women, both forms of psychological distress were significant mediators of the sexual assault/hazardous drinking relationship. In contrast, among all ethnic groups, the relationship between sexual assault and both forms of psychological distress was mediated by the use of sexual behavior as an affect regulation strategy. Results support a need to evaluate the assault experiences of ethnically diverse women, as well as the impact of the assault on their postassault experiences including health risk behaviors and psychological adjustment. Additionally, results suggest that practitioners should carefully assess health risk behaviors among victims of sexual assault and be aware that there may be differences in the risk factors and motives for these behaviors among women of various ethnic backgrounds.
... To some degree, these mixed findings may be a result of variability in whether specific dimensions or subtypes of anxiety are distinguished. Certain types of anxiety, such as harm avoidance and separation anxiety, may be protective from substance use during adolescence in part because they may inhibit risk-taking behaviors and affiliation with deviant peers (Kaplow, Curran, Angold, & Costello, 2001; Wills, Sandy, & Shinar, 1999) whereas other aspects of anxiety such as social anxiety could enhance risk-taking (Kashdan, Collins, & Elhai, 2006). Other factors related to emotional health, including life stress and low social support, may increase youths' vulnerability to initiate substance use earlier than most of their peers. ...
Article
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This study aimed to evaluate whether emotional health factors, including anxiety and depression, stress, and social support, are associated with earlier youth initiation of alcohol and illicit substances during middle school (from the sixth to the eighth grade). Data for this study were from the Developmental Pathways Project, a longitudinal study of 521 youth sampled from the Seattle Public Schools. Discrete time survival analyses were used to assess the effects of depression, anxiety, stress, and support on initiation of substance use, measured every 6 months at five time points between sixth and eighth grade. Youth who had initiated prior to sixth grade had significantly higher levels of depressive symptoms. In multivariate survival analyses controlling for child race/ethnicity, gender, and socioeconomic status, and accounting for conduct problems, youth who reported higher levels of separation anxiety/panic symptoms were at decreased risk for early alcohol initiation. Children with higher levels of perceived teacher support had a significantly lower risk of alcohol initiation during early follow-up periods. Recent stressful life events in Grade 6 were associated with significantly greater risk of initiating an illicit substance by Grade 8. The current findings highlight the role of stress in the initiation of illicit substance use and suggest that teacher support is associated with lower risk for very early alcohol use. Future research examining anxiety as a predictor of substance use should distinguish between subtypes of anxiety.
... However, there is reason to expect heterogeneity in the self-regulatory strategies used to cope with potential rejection. At least a subset of individuals with social anxiety difficulties use qualitatively different strategies that are best described as risk-prone, approach behavior (Kashdan, Collins, & Elhai, 2006;Kashdan, Elhai, & Breen, 2008;Kashdan & Hofmann, 2008;Kashdan, McKnight, Richey, & Hofmann, 2009). For instance, an individual with social anxiety difficulties might find amusement by mocking someone else to win the favor of a crowd and have fun. ...
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To date, the relation between anxiety and risky behavior engagement among adolescents is unclear. While some research has shown a positive association, other research has indicated that anxious symptoms and such engagement are inversely related. In the current multi-wave, longitudinal study, the prospective relationship between stress, anxiety symptom clusters, and risky behavior engagement is explored among a sample of adolescents (N = 151). Moreover, the study also examined the role of stress-reactive rumination as a potential moderator between the stress and anxiety mediational pathway. Preliminary analyses indicated that whereas boys' anxiety predicted subsequent risky behavior engagement, this relationship was not significant among girls. Additionally, results of time-lagged, idiographic multilevel models indicate that in boys, but not girls, total, physical, and social anxiety symptoms mediate the relationship between stress and risky behavior engagement. Further, stress-reactive rumination moderated the mediational pathway between stress and anxiety for the total and physical anxiety symptom scales. These findings suggest that among boys anxious symptoms may be the path through which stress predicts risky behavior engagement, particularly in total and physical symptoms, and moreover, stress-reactive rumination moderates the mediational pathway between stress and anxiety.
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Although most conceptualizations of social anxiety emphasise that socially anxious individuals are overtly shy, and utilise avoidant behavioural strategies (e.g., risk-aversion, passivity, and submissiveness), there is tentative support for the existence of an approach-motivated subtype, characterised by risk taking and a greater propensity for substance misuse. It is likely that this subtype may help explain the reported co-occurrence of substance misuse and social anxiety. The current study sought to test via latent class analysis whether an approach-motivated social anxiety subtype could be identified within a community sample. A self-report questionnaire was completed by 351 participants (age: 18-74 years). Two distinct social anxiety subgroups were identified: one characterised by prototypical SAD symptomatology (i.e., behavioural inhibition and risk-avoidance), the second by elevated levels of rash impulsiveness, reward sensitivity, risk-taking and co-occurring substance use problems. The current findings provides support for the existence of a distinct approach-motivated social anxiety subtype and indicates that impulsivity may be critical to understanding the comorbid substance use symptomatology of these individuals.
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To date, the relation between anxiety and risky behavior engagement among ado-lescents is unclear. While some research has shown a positive association, other research has indicated that anxious symptoms and such engagement are inversely related. In the current multi-wave, longitudinal study, the prospective relationship between stress, anxiety symptom clusters, and risky behavior engagement is ex-plored among a sample of adolescents (N = 151). Moreover, the study also exam-ined the role of stress-reactive rumination as a potential moderator between the stress and anxiety mediational pathway. Preliminary analyses indicated that whereas boys' anxiety predicted subsequent risky behavior engagement, this relationship was not significant among girls. Additionally, results of time-lagged, idiographic multilevel models indicate that in boys, but not girls, total, physical, and social anxiety symptoms mediate the relationship between stress and risky behavior en-gagement. Further, stress-reactive rumination moderated the mediational pathway between stress and anxiety for the total and physical anxiety symptom scales. These findings suggest that among boys anxious symptoms may be the path through which stress predicts risky behavior engagement, particularly in total and physical symptoms, and moreover, stress-reactive rumination moderates the mediational pathway between stress and anxiety. Presently, there are two opposing theories regarding the association between anxiety and risky behavior engagement among adolescents, and overall, empirical findings have been largely inconsistent. Whereas some research suggests that anxiety is as-sociated with risk avoidance (e.g., Nicholson, Soane, Fenton-O'Creevy, & Willman, 2005; Suhr & Tsanadis, 2007), other research has found that adolescents utilize risky behaviors as a means of attenuating the cognitive, affective, and physiological arousal associated with anxiety (e.g., Haegler et al., 2010; van Hamel, Derevensky, Takane,
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Purpose This study was designed to assess whether black inmates hold more positive outcome expectancies for crime than white inmates in an effort to inform the debate on the nature of well documented differences in criminal involvement between blacks and whites.Methods Positive outcome expectancies for crime were measured in 393 black male inmates and 154 white male inmates housed in a medium security federal correctional institution using the Outcome Expectancies for Crime (OEC: Walters, 2003b) inventory.Results Black inmates reported significantly stronger positive outcome expectancies for crime than white inmates after controlling for preexisting group differences in age, education, marital status, confining offense, response style, general criminal thinking, and negative outcome expectancies for crime. Anticipation of social benefits for crime in the form of love, respect, and security were particularly salient in distinguishing between black and white inmates.Conclusions It is speculated that an interaction of motivational (high achievement motivation), structural (blocked economic opportunities), and cultural (peer reinforcement) factors may be responsible for black-white differences in crime with important implications for theory, research, and clinical practice.
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The utility of trait social anxiety and alcohol expectancies in predicting increased alcohol consumption under socially stressful conditions was investigated. Forty-two male and 42 female undergraduates participated in a 2-day study, serving as their own controls. In each session, participants consumed their preferred alcoholic beverage during a 30-min drinking period. The lst session established baseline consumption under nonstressful conditions, while in the 2nd session, participants drank while anticipating the required delivery of a speech. Measures of social anxiety and alcohol expectancies were completed. Participants consumed more absolute alcohol during the stressful session, but those with high trait social anxiety and men expecting alcohol to increase assertiveness were most likely to show this effect. These findings suggest specificity in the connection between individual characteristics and stress-induced drinking. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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The psychometric adequacy of the Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (SIAS; R. P. Mattick & J. C. Clark, 1989), a measure of social interaction anxiety, and the Social Phobia Scale (SPS; R. P. Mattick & J. C. Clark, 1989), a measure of anxiety while being observed by others, was evaluated in anxious patients and normal controls. Social phobia patients scored higher on both scales and were more likely to be identified as having social phobia than other anxious patients (except for agoraphobic patients on the SPS) or controls. Clinician-rated severity of social phobia was moderately related to SIAS and SPS scores. Additional diagnoses of mood or panic disorder did not affect SIAS or SPS scores among social phobia patients, but an additional diagnosis of generalized anxiety disorder was associated with SIAS scores. Number of reported feared social interaction situations was more highly correlated with scores on the SIAS, whereas number of reported feared performance situations was more highly correlated with scores on the SPS. These scales appear to be useful in screening, designing individualized treatments, and evaluating the outcomes of treatments for social phobia. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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To explain risk-taking behavior, personality theorists typically focus on biologically based predispositions, whereas cognitive psychologists often focus on beliefs and environmental contingencies. The current longitudinal study examined both personality traits and outcome expectancies as explanations for heavy drinking, drug use, and unsafe sexual behavior among 162 college students. Results indicated that (1) personality and past experience contribute to outcome expectancies, (2) outcome expectancies and personality independently predict substance use at 6-month follow-up, and (3) only past experience predicts subsequent risky sexual behavior. The approach taken in this research offers a bridge between personality theorists and cognitive psychologists who seek to understand why people endanger their lives in pursuit of risky activities.
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We examined the hypothesis that social anxiety and alcohol outcome expectancies interact in relating to the quantity and frequency of alcohol consumption. Two hundred twenty-nine undergraduates completed self-report questionnaires. The results showed situational specificity of alcohol expectancies. Expecting that alcohol would reduce anxiety in social situations moderated the relation between social anxiety and alcohol consumption; no such moderating effect was found for expectancy of general tension reduction. Among those who did not expect alcohol to reduce their anxiety in social situations, high-social-anxiety participants reported lower frequency and quantity of alcohol consumption than did low-social-anxiety individuals. High- and low-social-anxiety participants who expected alcohol to reduce their social anxiety did not differ in their alcohol consumption.
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The approach to the problem of oncogenesis of tumorigenic viruses is compared and analyzed from the position of the Altshtein-Vogt hypothesis and from that of the general theory of oncogenesis advanced by the present author. In contrast to the hypothesis of Altshtein-Vogt dealing mainly with the problem of oncogene origin, the general theory of oncogenesis not only defines concretely the origin of the oncogene and the essence of its product, but also makes it possible to understand why, when and how integration of the oncogene with the genome of the cell leads to the transformation of the cell into a benign cell and when into a malignant tumour cell. An analysis of the essence of the "oncogene position effect" from this standpoint shows that an integration, similar in its mechanism but differing in polarity, of the genome of other viruses with the cell genome should lead to the formation of a corresponding antiviral stable (life-long) immunity or also to the emergence of pseudoautoimmune disease of the type caused by "slow" viruses.
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The primary goal of the present article is to compare expectancy models with competing attitude models of alcohol use. First, several methodological issues in expectancy research were addressed, to more adequately compare the theoretical models. Study 1 examined the effect of possible self-report biases on associations among expectancy constructs and alcohol use. In Studies 2 and 3, the basic distinction between general factors of positive and negative alcohol expectancies was investigated in both cross-sectional and prospective models. Alternative predictions that were based on competing expectancy and attitude theories were evaluated primarily in Study 3. Results from these studies supported the validity of the expectancy constructs and the proposed distinctions among expectancy and attitude constructs-in terms of strong discriminant validity, absence of self-report bias, and differential prediction of alcohol use. Furthermore, the findings favored certain expectancy models over alternative attitude models of alcohol use, reaffirming the usefulness of the expectancy framework.
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The present study proposed and tested a motivational model of alcohol use in which people are hypothesized to use alcohol to regulate both positive and negative emotions. Two central premises underpin this model: (a) that enhancement and coping motives for alcohol use are proximal determinants of alcohol use and abuse through which the influence of expectancies, emotions, and other individual differences are mediated and (b) that enhancement and coping motives represent phenomenologically distinct behaviors having both unique antecedents and consequences. This model was tested in 2 random samples (1 of adults, 1 of adolescents) using a combination of moderated regression and path analysis corrected for measurement error. Results revealed strong support for the hypothesized model in both samples and indicate the importance of distinguishing psychological motives for alcohol use.
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This study examined the effects of emotional suppression, a form of emotion regulation defined as the conscious inhibition of emotional expressive behavior while emotionally aroused. Ss (43 men and 42 women) watched a short disgust-eliciting film while their behavioral, physiological, and subjective responses were recorded. Ss were told to watch the film (no suppression condition) or to watch the film while behaving "in such a way that a person watching you would not know you were feeling anything" (suppression condition). Suppression reduced expressive behavior and produced a mixed physiological state characterized by decreased somatic activity and decreased heart rate, along with increased blinking and indications of increased sympathetic nervous system activity (in other cardiovascular measures and in electrodermal responding). Suppression had no impact on the subjective experience of emotion. There were no sex differences in the effects of suppression.
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The comorbidity of current and lifetime DSM-IV anxiety and mood disorders was examined in 1,127 outpatients who were assessed with the Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule for DSM-IV: Lifetime version (ADIS-IV-L). The current and lifetime prevalence of additional Axis I disorders in principal anxiety and mood disorders was found to be 57% and 81%, respectively. The principal diagnostic categories associated with the highest comorbidity rates were mood disorders, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). A high rate of lifetime comorbidity was found between the anxiety and mood disorders; the lifetime association with mood disorders was particularly strong for PTSD, GAD, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and social phobia. The findings are discussed in regard to their implications for the classification of emotional disorders.
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The limitations of paper-and-pencil self-monitoring (PM) are leading to the use of more sophisticated techniques. PM was compared with cellular phone monitoring (CM) to collect ecological momentary assessment data on alcohol use. Twenty social drinkers were randomly assigned to the 2 groups, and their drinking was monitored for 14 days. PM participants recorded data on cards. CM participants carried telephones and responded to an interactive voice response system. The authors found few significant group differences in alcohol use, compliance with the self-monitoring, and satisfaction. However, CM had useful advantages, including instantaneous entry of data into a central database, date and time stamping of data, and easy integration into daily life. Although preliminary, this study suggests that CM is a promising alternative to PM.
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The comorbidity of current and lifetime DSM-IV anxiety and mood disorders was examined in 1,127 outpatients who were assessed with the Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule for DSM-IV :Lifetime version (ADIS-IV-L). The current and lifetime prevalence of additional Axis I disorders in principal anxiety and mood disorders was found to be 57% and 81%, respectively. The principal diagnostic categories associated with the highest comorbidity rates were mood disorders, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). A high rate of lifetime comorbidity was found between the anxiety and mood disorders; the lifetime association with mood disorders was particularly strong for PTSD, GAD, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and social phobia. The findings are discussed in regard to their implications for the classification of emotional disorders.
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When women express hostility, the target is typically a significant other. Our efforts to account for this observation center on the role of rejection sensitivity - the disposition to anxiously expect, readily perceive, and overreact to rejection - in women's hostility. We have previously shown that dispositional anxious expectations about rejection by a significant other prompt women to readily perceive rejection and to react with hostility in situations that activate rejection expectations. These findings led us to propose that the hostility of women in such situations is a specific reaction to perceived rejection. Results from three studies support this proposition. Using a priming-pronunciation task paradigm, Study 1 revealed that rejection thoughts facilitated hostile thoughts to a greater extent in women high in rejection expectations (HRS) than in those low in rejection expectations (LRS). Chronic accessibility of hostile thoughts was unrelated to rejection expectations. Study 2 found that, following rejection by a potential dating partner, HRS women evaluated their prospective partners less positively than LRS women. Partner evaluations were unrelated to rejection expectations in a nonrejection control condition. Using a daily diary methodology, Study 3 showed that HRS women were more likely than LRS women to report a conflict with their romantic partners only when they had felt rejected on the previous day.
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This article outlines some basic ideas of an evolutionary approach to psychopathology. It focuses on human competition to be seen as attractive in order to elicit the investment of resources from others (e.g., approval, support, and care). It is argued that social anxiety may be a form of competitive anxiety, triggered in contexts where individuals see themselves as relatively low in the status hierarchy of desirable attributes and/or at risk of losing status (and control over social resources such as approval, help, and support) by being seen as having undesirable attributes. To improve (or defend) their position and garner the investments of others (e.g., win approval, support, friendships or status, or defend their status) requires a competitive venture; however, in attempting to compete, social phobics automatically recruit various evolved modules and mentalities for behaving in competitive arenas when one is low in the hierarchy (e.g., social comparison, placating dominant others and various submissive defenses such as concealment, high self-monitoring, and eye-gaze avoidance). These previously adaptive subordinate defenses interfere with status acquisition based on demonstrating attractive attributes to others.
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The development and validation of the Social Phobia Scale (SPS) and the Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (SIAS) two companion measures for assessing social phobia fears is described. The SPS assesses fears of being scrutinised during routine activities (eating, drinking, writing, etc.), while the SIAS assesses fears of more general social interaction, the scales corresponding to the DSM-III-R descriptions of Social Phobia—Circumscribed and Generalised types, respectively. Both scales were shown to possess high levels of internal consistency and test–retest reliability. They discriminated between social phobia, agoraphobia and simple phobia samples, and between social phobia and normal samples. The scales correlated well with established measures of social anxiety, but were found to have low or non-significant (partial) correlations with established measures of depression, state and trait anxiety, locus of control, and social desirability. The scales were found to change with treatment and to remain stable in the face of no-treatment. It appears that these scales are valid, useful, and easily scored measures for clinical and research applications, and that they represent an improvement over existing measures of social phobia.
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Each year since 1975, about 17,000 seniors have participated in a national survey conducted in some 130 high schools to assess students' changing lifestyles, values, and preferences. This publication is one in a series of annual monographs to disseminate many of the epidemiological findings from the study. It reports the results of the national survey of drug use and related attitudes and beliefs among 8th, 10th, and 12th graders. Distinctions are made among important demographic subgroups in these populations based on gender, college plans, region of the country, population density, parents' education, and race and ethnicity. Following the introductory chapter, chapter 2 presents key findings. Study design is reviewed in chapter 3. Chapters 4 and 5 explain the prevalence and trends in drug use. Chapter 6 discusses the initiation rates by grade level. Chapter 7 explains the degree and duration of drug highs. Chapter 8 discusses attitudes about drug use, and chapter 9 reviews the social milieu. Chapter 10 sums up other findings from the study. Volume 1 was preceded by an advance summary publication of its key findings. (Contains 5 appendixes, 146 tables and 103 figures.) (JDM)
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The primary purpose of this study was to determine the perception of the prevalence of using marijuana among a sample of college students and to assess the relationship between this perception and current marijuana use. Estimations of the prevalence of marijuana users exceeded the percentage of students who reported current marijuana use. Students estimated that 34.9% of male students and 27.7% of female students used marijuana in the past month. However, use in the past month was reported by 29.6% of males and 19.6% of females. Marijuana users gave significantly higher estimations of the percentage of male and females who use marijuana. The risk of using marijuana was much greater among students who held the perception that marijuana use was normative on campus (that more than half of students use marijuana). Marijuana users were also found to be at significantly higher risk of other substance use and sexual activity. Female marijuana users were more likely to have an eating disorder and to have ever attempted suicide. These findings suggest the need to provide accurate information about the prevalence of marijuana use on college campuses and to send the message that marijuana use is not normative on campuses. Because marijuana users are at high risk for engagement in health risk behaviors, they should be targeted in prevention programs.
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Priority health‐risk behaviors, which contribute to the leading causes of mortality and morbidity among youth and adults, often are established during youth, extend into adulthood, are interrelated, and are preventable. The Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) monitors six categories of priority health‐risk behaviors among youth and young adults – behaviors that contribute to unintentional and intentional injuries; tobacco use; alcohol and other drug use; sexual behaviors that contribute to unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) (including human immunodeficiency virus [HIV] infection); unhealthy dietary behaviors; and physical inactivity. The YRBSS includes a national school‐based survey conducted by CDC as well as state, territorial, and local school‐based surveys conducted by education and health agencies. This report summarizes results from the national survey, 33 state surveys, and 16 local surveys conducted among high school students during February through May 1999. In the United States, approximately three fourths of all deaths among persons aged 10–24 years result from only four causes: motor‐vehicle crashes, other unintentional injuries, homicide, and suicide. Results from the 1999 national Youth Risk Behavior Survey demonstrate that numerous high school students engage in behaviors that increase their likelihood of death from these four causes – 16.4% had rarely or never worn a seat belt; during the 30 days preceding the survey, 33.1% had ridden with a driver who had been drinking alcohol; 17.3% had carried a weapon during the 30 days preceding the survey; 50.0% had drunk alcohol during the 30 days preceding the survey; 26.7% had used marijuana during the 30 days preceding the survey; and 7.8% had attempted suicide during the 12 months preceding the survey. Substantial morbidity and social problems among young persons also result from unintended pregnancies and STDs, including HIV infection. In 1999, nationwide, 49.9%of high school students had ever had sexual intercourse; 42.0% of sexually active students had not used a condom at last sexual intercourse; and 1.8% had ever injected an illegal drug. Two thirds of all deaths among persons aged ≥25 years result from only two causes – cardiovascular disease and cancer. The majority of risk behaviors associated with these two causes of death are initiated during adolescence. In 1999, 34.8% of high school students had smoked cigarettes during the 30 days preceding the survey; 76.1% had not eaten ≥5 servings/day of fruits and vegetables during the 7 days preceding the survey; 16.0% were at risk for becoming overweight; and 70.9% did not attend physical education class daily. These YRBSS data are already being used by health and education officials at national, state, and local levels to analyze and improve policies and programs to reduce priority health‐risk behaviors among youth. The YRBSS data also are being used to measure progress toward achieving 16 national health objectives for 2010 and 3 of the 10 leading health indicators.
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One explanation for risk-taking behavior despite warnings about the dangers is that anticipated positive consequences outweigh possible negative outcomes. In a five-part investigation, a new questionnaire was developed to assess outcome expectancies for the potential consequences of involvement in a variety of risky activities. Conceptual and methodological limitations of previously available questionnaires were addressed and content, construct, and criterion validity were demonstrated. The new questionnaire measures respondents' beliefs about the consequences of 30 risky activities, as well as their expected and actual involvement in those activities. Consistent with a large body of alcohol expectancy research, beliefs about potential benefits were found to be more reliably associated with risk-taking than were beliefs about potential negative consequences. Implications for cognitive approaches to harm reduction are discussed.
Article
Despite anecdotal evidence that shyness is associated with alcohol use, studies have failed to show a reliable relation between these variables. The present study tested the hypothesis that expectancies about alcohol's positive consequences in social evaluative situations moderate the relation between shyness and drinking. In hierarchical regression analyses, peer influence, shyness, and alcohol expectancies made significant contributions to predicting alcohol use, but the shyness by alcohol expectancy interaction did not increase prediction of drinking. Also, it was found that alcohol expectancies operated as a suppressor variable. Although the simple correlation between shyness and alcohol use was near zero, inclusion of expectancies in the regression removed irrelevant variance in shyness leading to a significant, inverse relation between shyness and drinking. Results are discussed relative to how shyness problems may relate to minimal drinking activity and how alcohol expectancy findings are consistent with recent tests of the alcohol expectancy model.
Article
The present study examined social anxiety, anger, and depression among 234 persons with social anxiety disorder and 36 nonanxious controls. In addition to greater social anxiety, persons with social anxiety disorder exhibited more severe depression, greater anger, and poorer anger expression skills than did nonanxious control participants. Analyses investigating attrition and response to cognitive-behavioral group treatment (CBGT) among a subset of 68 persons treated for social anxiety disorder indicated that patients who experienced anger frequently, perceived unfair treatment, and were quick-tempered were less likely to complete a 12-session course of CBGT. Among treatment completers, significant reductions in the frequent experience of anger to perceived negative evaluation and in anger suppression were noted. However, those who suppressed anger responded less favorably to CBGT. Future directions and clinical implications are discussed.
Article
It is generally agreed that problems related to alcohol use and anxiety tend to occur within the same individual (“comorbidity”); however, the cause of this association remains controversial. Three prominent perspectives are that anxiety disorder promotes pathological alcohol use, that pathological alcohol use promotes anxiety disorder and that a third factor promotes both conditions. We review laboratory, clinical, family, and prospective studies bearing on the validity of these explanatory models. Findings converge on the conclusion that anxiety disorder and alcohol disorder can both serve to initiate the other, especially in cases of alcohol dependence versus alcohol abuse alone. Further, evidence from clinical studies suggests that anxiety disorder can contribute to the maintenance of and relapse to pathological alcohol use. Relying heavily on pharmacological and behavioral laboratory findings, we tentatively propose that short-term anxiety reduction from alcohol use, in concert with longer-term anxiety induction from chronic drinking and withdrawal, can initiate a vicious feed-forward cycle of increasing anxiety symptoms and alcohol use that results in comorbidity.
Article
The goal of the present study was to determine whether the investigation of interpersonal problems in social phobia would lead to qualitatively different subgroups, subgroups that would provide additional nonoverlapping information to the Mental Disorders-IV (DSM-IV) classification. 30 generalized socially phobic (college students, aged 18-29 yrs old), 30 nongeneralized socially phobic, and 30 nondisordered control participants were selected based on dual structured interviews. All participants completed the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems Circumplex Scales (IIP-C). Results showed that when social phobia subtypes were classified using the DSM-IV definition, the IIP-C reflected subgroup differences in global severity of interpersonal problems, with the generalized social phobia group evidencing the greatest difficulty. However, the subgroups could not be discriminated on core or central interpersonal problems. In contrast, when an interpersonal analysis of subtype classification was employed, 2 groups were formed, each with discriminating core unifying features suggesting qualitatively different problematic reactions to interpersonal situations. The potential clinical relevance of an assessment of interpersonal dysfunction to the treatment of social phobia is discussed.
Book
This chapter describes a refinement and extension of the self-presentational theory of social anxiety, which explains social anxiety in terms of people's concerns with the impressions that other people are forming of them. Theoretical developments involving the need for belonging and acceptance demonstrate precisely why people worry so much about what other people think of them, identify the conditions under which such concerns do and do not cause people to feel socially anxious, and link social anxiety to the processes by which people assess the degree to which they are relationally valued by others. The revised self-presentational theory also explains the behaviors that accompany social anxiety and offers implications for clinical treatment of socially anxious clients.
Article
The development and validation of the Social Phobia Scale (SPS) and the Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (SIAS) two companion measures for assessing social phobia fears is described. The SPS assesses fear of being scrutinised during routine activities (eating, drinking, writing, etc.), while the SIAS assesses fear of more general social interaction, the scales corresponding to the DSM-III-R descriptions of Social Phobia--Circumscribed and Generalised types, respectively. Both scales were shown to possess high levels of internal consistency and test-retest reliability. They discriminated between social phobia, agoraphobia and simple phobia samples, and between social phobia and normal samples. The scales correlated well with established measures of social anxiety, but were found to have low or non-significant (partial) correlations with established measures of depression, state and trait anxiety, locus of control, and social desirability. The scales were found to change with treatment and to remain stable in the face of no-treatment. It appears that these scales are valid, useful, and easily scored measures for clinical and research applications, and that they represent an improvement over existing measures of social phobia.
Article
Many young adults, despite widespread prevention and education efforts that target this age group, engage in behaviors that place them at risk of HIV infection. These behaviors include frequent experimentation with alcohol and other drugs before sex, sexual activity with different partners, and inconsistent safe-sex practices. The combination of these risky behaviors causes increased concern about the spread of HIV among this age group. The study discussed in this article examined the relationship between substance use during adolescence and HIV risk behavior among young adults ages 19 to 21 with and without a college education. Results indicated that increased use of alcohol and marijuana at younger ages is related to riskier sexual activity and increased use of alcohol and marijuana as young adults. Recommendations for interventions are made.
Article
Evidence is reviewed that indicates that social anxiety is a significant motivation for drinking among college students. Although the link between social anxiety and alcohol consumption has been studied from a variety of perspectives, there has been little integration of data. Drawing from the alcohol and anxiety literature, the relationship between social anxiety and heavy drinking in college students is examined. Findings indicate a clear relationship between social anxiety and drinking that may be moderated by alcohol expectancies and self-efficacy beliefs specific to socially anxious situations. A social cognitive model is proposed to guide future research and intervention efforts. A better understanding of college students' reasons for drinking offers the possibility of improving prevention and treatment efforts designed to reduce excessive drinking.
Article
Drawing on an appraisal-tendency framework (J. S. Lerner & D. Keltner, 2000), the authors predicted and found that fear and anger have opposite effects on risk perception. Whereas fearful people expressed pessimistic risk estimates and risk-averse choices, angry people expressed optimistic risk estimates and risk-seeking choices. These opposing patterns emerged for naturally occurring and experimentally induced fear and anger. Moreover, estimates of angry people more closely resembled those of happy people than those of fearful people. Consistent with predictions, appraisal tendencies accounted for these effects: Appraisals of certainty and control moderated and (in the case of control) mediated the emotion effects. As a complement to studies that link affective valence to judgment outcomes, the present studies highlight multiple benefits of studying specific emotions.
Article
If human social anxiety is not predominately about the fear of physical injury or attack, as it is in other animals, then, to understand human social anxiety (i.e., fear of evaluation), it is necessary to consider why certain types of relationships are so important. Why do humans need to court the good feelings of others and fear not doing so? And why, when people wish to appear attractive to others (e.g., to make friends, date a desired sexual partner, or give a good presentation), do some people become so overwhelmed with anxiety that they behave submissively and fearfully (which can be seen as unattractive) or are avoidant? This article has suggested that humans have evolved to compete for attractiveness to make good impressions because these are related to eliciting important social resources and investments from others. These, in turn, have been linked to inclusive fitness and have physiological regulating effects. Being allocated a low social rank or ostracized carries many negative consequences for controlling social resources and physiological regulation. Social anxiety, like shame, can be adaptive to the extent that it helps people to "stay on track" with what is socially acceptable and what is not and could result in social sanction and exclusion. However, dysfunctional social anxiety is the result of activation of basic defensive mechanisms (and modules for) for threat detection and response (e.g., inhibition, eye-gaze avoidance, flight, or submission) that can be recruited rapidly for dealing with immediate threats, override conscious wishes, and interfere with being seen as a "useful associate." Second, this article has suggested that socially anxious people are highly attuned to the competitive dynamics of trying to elicit approval and investment from others but that they perceive themselves to start from an inferior (i.e., low-rank) position and, because of this, activate submissive defensives when attempting to present themselves as confident, able, and attractive to others. These submissive defenses (which evolved to inhibit animals in low-rank positions from making claims on resources or up-rank bids) interfere with confident performance, leading to a failure cycle. While psychological therapies may target specific modules, cognitions, and behaviors (e.g., damage limitation behaviors, eyes gaze avoidance, theory of mind beliefs) that underpin social anxiety, drugs may work by having a more generalized effect on the threat-safety balance such that there is a different "weighting" given to various social threats and opportunities. If social anxiety (and disorders associated with it) are increasing in the modern age, one reason may be invigorated competition for social prestige, attractiveness, and resources.
Article
Social phobia is a type of performance and interpersonal anxiety disorder and as such may be associated with sexual dysfunction and avoidance. The aim of the present study was to evaluate sexual function and behavior in patients with social phobia compared with mentally healthy subjects. Eighty subjects participated in the study: 40 consecutive, drug-free outpatients with social phobia (DSM-IV) attending an anxiety disorders clinic between November 1997 and April 1999 and 40 mentally normal controls. The Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I Disorders and the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale were used to quantitatively and qualitatively assess sexual function and behavior. Men with social phobia reported mainly moderate impairment in arousal, orgasm, sexual enjoyment, and subjective satisfaction domains. Women with social phobia reported severe impairment in desire, arousal, sexual activity, and subjective satisfaction. In addition, compared with controls, men with social phobia reported significantly more frequent paid sex (p < .05), and women with social phobia reported a significant paucity of sexual partners (p < .05). Patients with social phobia exhibit a wide range of sexual dysfunctions. Men have mainly performance problems, and women have a more pervasive disorder. Patients of both genders show difficulties in sexual interaction. It is important that clinicians be aware of this aspect of social phobia and initiate open discussions of sexual problems with patients.
Article
Previous work suggests that social anxiety is inconsistently related to alcohol use. To further explore this relationship, alcohol outcome expectancies were evaluated as potential moderator and mediators in a large sample (N=284) of college undergraduates. The expectancy variables included positive and negative alcohol outcome expectancies as well as expectancies specific to social facilitation. Consistent with a self-presentation model of shyness, social anxiety was related to decreased drinking. Interestingly, social anxiety was associated with increased positive as well as increased negative expectancies. There was not support for moderator or mediator effects. Consistent with prior work, social facilitation expectancies appear to operate as a suppressor variable in the relationship between social anxiety and alcohol use.
Article
Depressive symptoms are associated with both the presence of negative subjective experiences and relative absence of positive subjective experiences. A similar affective profile of high negative affect and low positive affect (PA) has been associated with excessive social anxiety (SA). This initial cross-sectional study evaluated the incremental effects of social interaction anxiety on hedonic deficits beyond the effects of depressive and anxiety (i.e., physiological arousal, worry) symptoms. From a sample of 97 college students, a factor analysis on self-report measures of hedonic functioning derived two domains: Positive Subjective Experiences and Curiosity. Social interaction anxiety was uniquely, negatively related to Positive Subjective Experiences and Curiosity after removing variance attributable to various depressive and anxiety symptoms. In contrast, anxious arousal and nonspecific anxiety had near-zero relationships with both domains, and depressive symptoms were negatively related to Positive Subjective Experiences. These data provide some evidence for an association between social interaction anxiety and hedonic deficits that is not attributable to covariance with other internalizing conditions.
Article
College problem drinking and social anxiety are significant public health concerns with highly negative consequences. College students are faced with a variety of novel social situations and situations encouraging alcohol consumption. The current study involved developing a path model of college problem drinking, including social anxiety, in 316 college students referred to an alcohol intervention due to a campus alcohol violation. Contrary to hypotheses, social anxiety generally had an inverse relationship with problem drinking. As expected, perceived drinking norms had important positive, direct effects on drinking variables. However, the results generally did not support the hypotheses regarding the mediating or moderating function of the valuations of expected effects and provided little support for the mediating function of alcohol expectancies in the relations among social anxiety and alcohol variables. Therefore, it seems that the influence of peers may be more important for college students than alcohol expectancies and valuations of alcohol's effects are. College students appear to be a unique population in respect to social anxiety and problem drinking. The implications of these results for college prevention and intervention programs were discussed.
Descriptive psychopathology of social phobia
  • R M Rapee
The mood and anxiety symptom questionnaire (MASQ)
  • D Watson
  • L A Clark
Sexual function and behavior in social phobia
  • L Bodinger
  • H Hermesh
  • D Aizenberg
  • A Valevski
  • S Marom
  • R Shiloh
  • L. Bodinger
Social Phobia: Diagnosis, assessment, and treatment
  • R M Rapee
  • R. M. Rapee