Environmental Influences of Anxiety
NOTES – Environmental Factors of Anxiety:
Understanding Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD)
Definition: Persistent fear of social situations due to potential scrutiny or fear of acting in an embarrassing way.
Symptoms: Include intense anxiety, avoidance of situations, and distress that lasts 6+ months.
Prevalence: Increases with age (4.7% in children, 8.3% in adolescents, 17% in youth).
Risk Factors:
Genetic: ~30% heritability; polygenic influences with small effects.
Environmental: Greater emphasis on non-shared environmental factors (make siblings in the same family different).
Etiological Model by Spence & Rapee (2016)
Principles:
Equifinality: Multiple pathways can lead to SAD.
Multifinality: Single risk factors can lead to varied outcomes.
Reciprocal Risk Factors: E.g., socially anxious behaviours may lead to peer victimization, amplifying anxiety.
Environmental Factors
1. Aversive Social Outcomes:
o Experiences like teasing, bullying, rejection, and exclusion are strongly associated with SAD.
o Socially anxious children tend to have fewer, lower-quality friendships and poorer peer evaluations.
2. Peer Influences:
o Victimization (both overt and relational) increases the risk for SAD.
o Studies show that social anxiety also increases the likelihood of victimization.
3. Trauma and Life Events:
o Trauma, such as maltreatment or witnessing victimization, doubles the likelihood of SAD development.
o Protective Factors: Social support can mitigate SAD symptoms in those experiencing negative life events (NLEs).
4. Cultural Factors:
o SAD varies by cultural context. For example:
§ Collectivist cultures (e.g., East Asian) might view social reticence positively.
§ Individualistic cultures (e.g., Western) view social withdrawal negatively, leading to higher prevalence.
Empirical Evidence
1. Aversive Social Experiences:
o Study by Blote et al. (2015): High social anxiety (HSA) adolescents faced higher rejection rates, partly due to poor social skills and perceived attractiveness.
2. Bullying and Social Anxiety:
o Pabian & Vandebosch (2015): Social anxiety predicts victimization in traditional and cyberbullying but not vice versa.
3. Trauma Studies:
o Gren-Landell et al. (2011): Prior victimization increases SAD prevalence.
o Aune et al. (2021): High social support moderates the impact of NLEs on SAD.
Critical Considerations in Research
Generalizability: Many studies use limited demographics (e.g., White, middle-class samples).
Methodological Issues:
Reliance on self-reports increases risk of shared method bias.
Many studies do not assess outcomes beyond SAD (e.g., depression or loneliness).
Cultural Sensitivity: More research is needed to explore the role of cultural norms in SAD development.
NOTES – Environmental Factors of Anxiety:
Understanding Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD)
Definition: Persistent fear of social situations due to potential scrutiny or fear of acting in an embarrassing way.
Symptoms: Include intense anxiety, avoidance of situations, and distress that lasts 6+ months.
Prevalence: Increases with age (4.7% in children, 8.3% in adolescents, 17% in youth).
Risk Factors:
Genetic: ~30% heritability; polygenic influences with small effects.
Environmental: Greater emphasis on non-shared environmental factors (make siblings in the same family different).
Etiological Model by Spence & Rapee (2016)
Principles:
Equifinality: Multiple pathways can lead to SAD.
Multifinality: Single risk factors can lead to varied outcomes.
Reciprocal Risk Factors: E.g., socially anxious behaviours may lead to peer victimization, amplifying anxiety.
Environmental Factors
1. Aversive Social Outcomes:
o Experiences like teasing, bullying, rejection, and exclusion are strongly associated with SAD.
o Socially anxious children tend to have fewer, lower-quality friendships and poorer peer evaluations.
2. Peer Influences:
o Victimization (both overt and relational) increases the risk for SAD.
o Studies show that social anxiety also increases the likelihood of victimization.
3. Trauma and Life Events:
o Trauma, such as maltreatment or witnessing victimization, doubles the likelihood of SAD development.
o Protective Factors: Social support can mitigate SAD symptoms in those experiencing negative life events (NLEs).
4. Cultural Factors:
o SAD varies by cultural context. For example:
§ Collectivist cultures (e.g., East Asian) might view social reticence positively.
§ Individualistic cultures (e.g., Western) view social withdrawal negatively, leading to higher prevalence.
Empirical Evidence
1. Aversive Social Experiences:
o Study by Blote et al. (2015): High social anxiety (HSA) adolescents faced higher rejection rates, partly due to poor social skills and perceived attractiveness.
2. Bullying and Social Anxiety:
o Pabian & Vandebosch (2015): Social anxiety predicts victimization in traditional and cyberbullying but not vice versa.
3. Trauma Studies:
o Gren-Landell et al. (2011): Prior victimization increases SAD prevalence.
o Aune et al. (2021): High social support moderates the impact of NLEs on SAD.
Critical Considerations in Research
Generalizability: Many studies use limited demographics (e.g., White, middle-class samples).
Methodological Issues:
Reliance on self-reports increases risk of shared method bias.
Many studies do not assess outcomes beyond SAD (e.g., depression or loneliness).
Cultural Sensitivity: More research is needed to explore the role of cultural norms in SAD development.