Social Anxiety and Adolescents’ Friendships

Abstract

Research indicates social anxiety is associated with lower friendship quality, but little is known about the underlying mechanisms. This 2-month longitudinal study examined social withdrawal as a mediator of the social anxiety-friendship quality link in a sample of 214 adolescents (M age = 13.1 years, SD = .73) that included an oversampling of adolescents recently relocated to the community (n = 155). Findings provided preliminary support for the hypothesized models, in which social anxiety is associated with social withdrawal, which in turn is related to lower companionship and intimacy in adolescents' friendships. Analyses testing whether relocation to a new community intensifies these associations indicated additive, but not multiplicative, effects of social anxiety and relocation on friendship companionship and intimacy. Implications include the importance of increasing socially anxious youths' social engagement and skills with friends as well as with less familiar peers.

The Mediating Role of Socio-Motivational Relationships in the Interplay of Perceived Stress, Neuroticism, and Test Anxiety Among Adolescent Students

“…In fact, students reporting high levels of general anxiety also report poor teacher and peer relationships as well as poor health (Erwin, ; Gaspar de Matos, Barrett, Dadds, & Shortt, ; Grills & Ollendick, ; Suhr‐Dachs, ). These findings are in line with studies from Pekrun () and Biggs and colleagues (), indicating that test‐anxious students are more likely to report high levels of social exclusion and perceived competition within the class context. Furthermore, personality aspects have shown to predict the number of peer relationships and conflict with peers (Asendorpf & Wilpers, ).…”

“…The current study also found that positive peer relationships are associated with reduced levels of general anxiety, which supports previous research in the area (Biggs, Nelson, & Sampilo, ; Erwin, ; Flanagan et al., ; Gaspar de Matos et al., ; Grills & Ollendick, ). Being socially connected with a group mitigates the effects of stressful situations, such as having to take a test (Cohen & Wills, ; Lee & Robbins, ) and fosters healthy socio‐emotional development (Biggs et al., ; Osterman, ). With regard to test anxiety in particular, high levels of test anxiety have been shown to be related to poor peer relationships (Pekrun, ; Suhr‐Dachs, ).…”

Peer relations in the anxiety–depression link: test of a mediation model

“…Further research into the mechanisms underlying the association of anxiety and depression with peer relations would help identify processes and skills to target in treatment. For example, social withdrawal has been found to mediate the association of social anxiety with low peer acceptance (Erath et al, 2007) and with low friendship quality (Biggs, Vernberg, & Wu, 2009), suggesting that facilitation of social engagement may be important in promoting the social adjustment of anxious youth and preventing comorbid depression. Interventions aimed at friendship facilitation are also promising, as having a good friend buffers against internalizing problems among victimized youth (Hodges, Boivin, Vitaro, & Bukowski, 1999), perhaps because talking to someone about aversive peer experiences can protect against loneliness (Vernberg, Ewell, Beery, & Freeman, 1995) and teacher-rated social problems (Kochenderfer-Ladd & Skinner, 2002).…”

The Role of Family for Youth Friendships: Examining a Social Anxiety Mechanism

“…It can lead youth to feel afraid of approaching peers, to avoid social interactions, or to experience significant distress while engaging in social interactions; not surprisingly, youth with higher social anxiety tend to experience less friendship support and peer acceptance (La Greca & Lopez, 1998). Youth with higher social anxiety are also more likely to withdraw socially, experience less companionship and intimacy from friends, and are more likely to refuse school (Biggs, Vernberg, & Wu, 2012; Nair et al, 2013). As social anxiety can undermine the formation of fulfilling friendships, adolescents may experience loneliness as a consequence.…”