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Greater SAD prevalence and severity among women can have implications for assessment (e.g., potentially setting gender-specific cutoffs) and treatment (e.g., guiding exposures) of SAD.

We examined nonverbal synchrony during opposite-sex interactions of individuals with social anxiety disorder (SAD). Participants were 156 individuals: 38 diagnosed with SAD and 118 individuals who were not socially anxious (NSA). Participants formed 78 dyads of either 2 NSA individuals (control dyads; n = 40) or 1 individual with SAD and 1 NSA individual (SAD dyads; n = 38). Dyads were randomly assigned to either a closeness-generating conversation or a small-talk conversation, and nonverbal synchrony was derived from computer analysis of videos. We found that for control dyads, closeness-generating conversations led to increased nonverbal synchrony compared with small-talk conversations but did not find the same outcome in SAD dyads. We also found a positive association between social anxiety and nonverbal synchrony in small-talk conversations but a negative association in closeness-generating conversations. Thus, we found evidence for impaired nonverbal synchrony in SAD using objective measures. Implications for psychopathology and treatment are discussed.

Individuals with social anxiety disorder (SAD) have substantial difficulties in romantic relationships. The aim of the present study was to examine initial, opposite-sex interactions of individuals with SAD and their interaction partners. Specifically, we investigated gender and social context (small talk vs. closeness-generating conversations) and their effects on momentary social anxiety during the interaction, as well as on participants’ desire for future interaction. Participants in this study ( N = 160) formed 42 experimental dyads, each comprising one individual with SAD and another non–socially anxious (NSA) individual, and 38 control dyads of two NSA individuals. We found that men with SAD benefitted significantly from closeness-generating interactions such that levels of momentary social anxiety were greatly reduced and both members of the dyad reported increased desire for future interaction. This effect was not found in small-talk conversations and not found for women with SAD. Implications for psychopathology and treatment are discussed.

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