No description available.

Background. To examine the role of parental psychopathology and family environment for the risk of social anxiety disorder (SAD) in offspring from childhood to early adulthood, covering an observational period of 10 years. Method. A community sample of 1,395 adolescents (aged 14 to 17 years at baseline) was prospectively followed-up over the core high risk period for SAD onset. DSM-IV offspring and parental psychopathology was assessed using the Munich-Composite International Diagnostic Interview; direct diagnostic interviews in parents were supplemented by family history reports from offspring. Parental rearing was assessed by the Questionnaire of Recalled Rearing Behavior in offspring, family functioning by the McMaster Family Assessment Device in parents. Results. Parental SAD was associated with the offspring’s risk to develop SAD (OR = 3.3, 95%CI: 1.4-8.0). Additionally, other parental anxiety disorders (OR = 2.9, 95%CI: 1.4-6.1), depression (OR = 2.6, 95%CI: 1.2-5.4) and alcohol use disorders (OR = 2.8, 95%CI: 1.3-6.1) were associated with offspring SAD. Offspring’s reports of parental overprotection, rejection and lack of emotional warmth, but not parental reports of family functioning were associated with offspring SAD. Analyses of interaction of parental psychopathology and parental rearing indicated combined effects on the risk for offspring SAD. Conclusions. These findings extend previous results in showing that both parental psychopathology and parental rearing are consistently associated with the risk for offspring SAD. As independent and interactive effects of parental psychopathology and parental rearing may have already manifested in early adolescence, these factors appear crucial and promising for targeted prevention programs.

Anxiety disorders are among the most commonly diagnosed class of mental illness in the United States, and often involve abnormally high levels of stress and social fear. Despite high lifetime prevalence rates, social anxiety disorder (SAD) has remarkably low diagnosis and treatment rates. Furthermore, while individuals with other specific psychiatric disorders tend to exhibit significant neuropsychological deficits, neuropsychological functioning in individuals with SAD remains largely untested. A majority of the few existing studies concerning neuropsychological performance in SAD samples focus on specific functions, and their limited results are highly mixed. The primary objective of this investigation was to provide a more thorough, broad assessment of both auditory and visual working memory as related to psychometrically-defined social anxiety disorder. In addition, this study aimed to help clarify as to whether such deficits are related to the construct of social anxiety, or whether any potential deficits are better explained by generalized state and/or trait (in-the-moment) anxiety. The implications of a deficit in the visual and/or auditory working memory domains are multifaceted. For example, such a deficit may lead to the inability to detect visual cues in social situations. The inability to process these social cues has the potential to exacerbate some SAD- related symptoms, such as fear of humiliation and judgment. Twenty-nine college students completed both phases of this study, including an assessment of state and trait anxiety as well as social phobia and a four-part working memory battery. An analysis of the Phase II data indicates that individual scores on the four measures of both visual and auditory working memory did not relate to trait and/or state anxiety or psychometrically-defined social anxiety.; Thus, it appears that social, generalized trait, and generalized state anxiety do not relate to a neuropsychological deficit in either type of working memory in this sample population. However, we did find a statistical trend suggesting that as social anxiety increased, there was a relative decrease in visual vs. auditory working memory. This statistical trend remained after covarying for state and trait anxiety respectively. Therefore, future research in this area should examine the discrepancy in performance between the auditory and visual working memory domains as it relates to both diagnosed social phobia and psychometrically-defined social anxiety.

No description available.

Assertiveness is a learned fundamental interpersonal communication skill that helps individuals to meet the social demands of society. Although various personality factors associated with assertiveness have previously been studied, no recently published studies were identified in the review of assertiveness literature. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between assertiveness and the five factors of personality (extraversion, neuroticism, openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness), self-esteem, social anxiety, and shyness to update past research findings. Participants completed the College Self-Expression Scale, the IPIP representation of the NEO PI-R, the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, the Brief Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale, and the Revised Cheek and Buss Shyness Scale. It was hypothesized that assertiveness would correlate positively with extraversion, openness to experience, conscientiousness, agreeableness, and self-esteem. Assertiveness was further hypothesized to correlate negatively with neuroticism, social anxiety, and shyness. Results revealed direct relationships between assertiveness and self-esteem, extraversion, openness to experience, and conscientiousness, as well as inverse relationships to neuroticism, shyness, and fear of disapproval. No significant relationship was found between assertiveness and agreeableness. This study aimed to advance the understanding of the complex personality structure of low-assertive individuals.

No description available.

This research examined the relationships between the Big Five human personality traits, favorable social conditions, and foreign language classroom speaking confidence. Four research questions were investigated concerning the validity of the Big Five for a Japanese university sample, the composition of Foreign Language Classroom Speaking Confidence, the degree to which the Big Five influenced Foreign Language Classroom Speaking Confidence, and the degree to which perceptions of classroom climate affect Foreign Language Classroom Speaking Confidence. The first stage of the research involved three pilot studies that led to the revision of the Big Five Factor Marker questionnaire and the creation of a new instrument for measuring foreign language classroom speaking confidence that included both cognitive and social factors as theorized in mainstream social anxiety research. The second stage of the research involved the collection and analysis of data from 1,081 participants studying English in 12 universities throughout Japan. Data were analyzed using a triangulation of Rasch analysis, exploratory factor analysis (EFA), and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) in order to verify the construct validity of the eleven hypothesized constructs. Following validation of the measurement model, the latent variables were placed into a structural regression model, which was tested by using half of the data set as a calibration sample and confirmed by using the second half of the data set as a validation sample. The results of the study indicated the following: (a) four of the five hypothesized Big Five personality traits were valid for the Japanese sample; (b) Foreign Language Classroom Speaking Confidence comprised three measurement variables, Foreign Language Classroom Speaking Anxiety, Perceived Foreign Language Speaking Self-Competence, and Desire to Speak English; (c) Emotional Stability and Imagination directly influenced Foreign Language Classroom Speaking Confidence, and; (d) Current English Classroom Perception and Perceived Social Value of Speaking English directly influenced Foreign Language Classroom Speaking Confidence. The findings thus demonstrated a link between personality, positive classroom atmosphere, and foreign language classroom speaking confidence. The implications of the findings included the possibility that foreign language anxiety is not situation-specific as theorized, and that improved social relations within the foreign language classroom might help reduce speaking anxiety. / CITE/Language Arts

The present study examined the ability of a Virtual Reality (VR) public speaking task to elicit physiological arousal in adults with SAD (n=25) and Controls (n=25). A behavioral assessment paradigm was employed to address three study objectives: (a) to determine whether the VR task can elicit significant increases in physiological response over baseline resting conditions (b) to determine if individuals with SAD have a greater increase from baseline levels of physiological and self-reported arousal during the in vivo speech task as opposed to the VR speech task and (c) to determine whether individuals with SAD experience greater changes in physiological and selfreported arousal during each speech task compared to controls. Results demonstrated that the VR task was able to elicit significant increases in heart rate, skin conductance, and respiratory sinus arrhythmia, but did not elicit as much physiological or self-reported arousal as the in vivo speech task. In addition, no differences were found between groups. Clinical implications of these findings are discussed

Texting while driving is a growing problem that has serious, and sometimes fatal, consequences. Despite laws enacted to curb this behavior, the problem continues to grow. Discovering factors that can reduce such risky behavior can significantly contribute to research, as well as save lives and reduce property damage. This study developed a model to explore the motivations that cause a driver to send messages. The model evaluates the effects that boredom, social relationships, social anxiety, and social gratification (BRAG) have upon a driver’s frequency of typing text messages. In addition, the perceived severity of the consequences and the presence of a passenger were also be evaluated for any moderating effects on a driver’s texting. Furthermore, a set of hypotheses based on the BRAG model were presented. To investigate these hypotheses, a survey instrument was developed and data was collected from 297 respondents at a mid-sized regional university in the Pacific North west of the United States. Prior to the distribution of the survey, an expert panel and a pilot study were used to ensure the reliability of the instrument. Partial least squares structured equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to evaluate the predictive validity of the BRAG model. This evaluation included an assessment of the reflective measures, as well as a detailed analysis of the structural model. Additionally, knowledge visualization techniques were used to emphasize the significance of the findings. The results of this analysis showed that the social gratification one receives from maintaining their social relationships is a significant predictor of texting while driving. Additionally, the results showed that drivers continued to text, regardless of the consequences. However, boredom and social anxiety were not significant predictors of texting while driving. This study makes important contributions to the information systems body of knowledge and has implications for state and local lawmakers, in addition to public health officials. Prior research has shown that bored or anxious individuals use texting to relieve those feelings of discomfort. However, this study did not extend those findings to drivers. As this study found that laws banning texting while driving do not deter this behavior, public health officials and lawmakers should investigate other means of deterring texting while driving, given the significant impact it has on the increase of fatal car accidents in recent years.

Le décodage des expressions faciales émotionnelles (EFE) est une fonction clé du système visuel humain puisqu’il est à la base de la communication non-verbale sur laquelle reposent les interactions sociales. De nombreuses études suggèrent un traitement différentiel des attributs diagnostiques du visage au sein des basses et des hautes fréquences spatiales (FS), respectivement sous-tendu par les voies magno- et parvocellulaires. En outre, des conditions telles que l’anxiété sociale sont susceptibles d’affecter ce traitement et d’entrainer une modulation des potentiels reliés aux évènements (PRE). Cette étude explore la possibilité de prédire le niveau d’anxiété social des individus à partir des corrélats électrophysiologiques du décodage d’EFE dans différentes bandes de FS. À cette fin, les PRE de 26 participants (âge moyen = 23.7 ± 4.7) ont été enregistrés lors de la présentation visuelle d’expressions neutres, de joie ou de colère filtrées pour ne retenir que les basses, moyennes ou hautes FS. L’anxiété sociale a été évaluée par l’administration préalable du questionnaire LSAS. Les latences et pics d’amplitude de la P100, N170, du complexe N2b/P3a et de la P3b ont été analysés statistiquement et utilisés pour entrainer différents algorithmes de classification. L’amplitude de la P100 était reliée au contenu en FS. La N170 a montré un effet des EFE. Le complexe N2b/P3a était plus ample pour les EFE et plus précoce pour les hautes FS. La P3b était moins ample pour les visages neutres, qui étaient aussi plus souvent omis. L’analyse discriminante linéaire a montré une précision de décodage d’en moyenne 56.11% au sein des attributs significatifs. La nature de ces attributs et leur sensibilité à l’anxiété sociale sera discutée. / The decoding of emotional facial expressions (EFE) is a key function of the human visual system since it lays at the basis of non-verbal communication that allows social interactions. Numerous studies suggests that the processing of faces diagnostic features may take place differently for low and high spatial frequencies (SF), respectively in the magno- and parvocellular pathways. Moreover, conditions such as social anxiety are supposed to influence this processing and the associated event-related potentials (ERP). This study explores the feasibility of predicting social anxiety levels using electrophysiological correlates of EFE processing across various SF bands. To this end, ERP from 26 participants (mean age = 23.7 ± 4.7) years old were recorded during visual presentation of neutral, angry and happy facial expressions, filtered to retain only low, medium or high SF. Social anxiety was previously assessed using the LSAS questionnary. Peak latencies and amplitudes of the P100, N170, N2b/P3a complex and P3b components were statistically analyzed and used to feed supervised machine learning algorithms. P100 amplitude was linked to SF content. N170 was effected by EFE. N2b/P3a complex was larger for EFE and earlier for high SF. P3b was lower for neutral faces, which were also more often omitted. The linear discriminant analysis showed a decoding accuracy across significant features with a mean of 56.11%. The nature of these features and their sensitivity to social anxiety will be discussed.