Department of Psychology, School of Health and Social Care, University of Greenwich, London, SE9 2UG, UK.
Faculty of Engineering, Dyson School of Design Engineering, Imperial College, London, SW7 2AZ, UK.
BMC Psychol. 2019 Apr 23;7(1):24. doi: 10.1186/s40359-019-0300-5.
Preliminary evidence suggests that impairment of social performance in socially anxious individuals may be specific to selective aspects of performance and be more pronounced in females. This evidence is based primarily on contrasting results from studies using all-male or all-female samples or that differ in type of social behaviour assessed. However, methodological differences (e.g. statistical power, participant population) across these studies means it is difficult to determine whether behavioural or gender-specific effects are genuine or artefactual. The current study examined whether the link between social anxiety and social behaviour was dependent upon gender and the behavioural dimension assessed within the same study under methodologically homogenous conditions.
Ninety-three university students (45 males, 48 females) with a mean age of 25.6 years and varying in their level of social anxiety underwent an interaction and a speech task. The speech task involved giving a brief impromptu presentation in front of a small group of three people, while the interaction task involved "getting to know" an opposite-sex confederate. Independent raters assessed social performance on 5 key dimensions from Fydrich's Social Performance Rating Scale.
Regression analysis revealed a significant moderate association of social anxiety with behavioral discomfort (e.g., fidgeting, trembling) for interaction and speech tasks, but no association with other performance dimensions (e.g., verbal fluency, quality of verbal expression). No sex differences were found.
These results suggest that the impairing effects of social anxiety within the non-clinical range may exacerbate overt behavioral agitation during high demand social challenges but have little impact on other observable aspects of performance quality.
初步证据表明，社交焦虑个体的社交表现受损可能是特定于表现的选择性方面的，并且在女性中更为明显。这些证据主要基于使用全男性或全女性样本或评估的社交行为类型不同的研究得出的对比结果。然而，这些研究之间存在方法学差异（例如，统计效力、参与者人群），因此很难确定行为或性别特异性效应是真实的还是人为的。本研究在方法学同质条件下，检验了社交焦虑与社交行为之间的联系是否取决于性别和同一研究中评估的行为维度。
93 名年龄在 25.6 岁左右的大学生（45 名男性，48 名女性），具有不同程度的社交焦虑，接受了互动和演讲任务。演讲任务涉及在三人小组前进行简短的即兴演讲，而互动任务涉及与异性同盟者“相识”。独立评估者根据 Fydrich 的社交表现评估量表的 5 个关键维度评估社交表现。
回归分析显示，社交焦虑与互动和演讲任务的行为不适（例如，坐立不安、颤抖）呈显著中度关联，但与其他表现维度（例如，口头流畅度、口头表达质量）无关。没有发现性别差异。
这些结果表明，在非临床范围内，社交焦虑的损害效应可能会在高要求的社交挑战中加剧明显的行为不安，但对其他可观察的表现质量方面几乎没有影响。
