Social anxiety and self-compassion in adolescents

Abstract

Introduction: Social anxiety disorder is a prevalent mental illness with a young onset age. Preliminary evidence suggested that low self-compassion may contribute to adult social anxiety, but research with youth has lagged far behind. This study investigated the relationship between selfcompassion and social anxiety in adolescents. It also examined the mediating role of three cognitive mechanisms: fear of negative evaluation, self-focused attention, and cognitive avoidance.

Methods: A total of 316 adolescents (age 14-18, 54% male) recruited in Scotland, UK, completed 7 questionnaires.

Results: Self-compassion was inversely correlated with social anxiety with a large effect size (r = -.551). This was partially mediated by fear of negative evaluation and cognitive avoidance, but not self-focused attention. Selfcompassion also predicted social anxiety above depression and anxiety symptoms.

Conclusions: Our findings suggested that self-compassion could be an important factor in the development of social anxiety, and hence therapeutic techniques targeting self-compassion could potentially be beneficial in preventing or treating adolescent social anxiety.

Keywords: Adolescence; Anxiety; Depression; Mood disorders; Self-compassion; Social anxiety.