The Influence of Vulnerable Narcissism on Social Anxiety among Adolescents:The Mediating Role of Self-Concept Clarity and Self-Esteem

Social anxiety (SA) is a prevalent mental health issue among adolescents, and vulnerable narcissism (VN) can exacerbate thiscondition. This study aims to investigate the impact of vulnerable narcissism on social anxiety in adolescents, specificallyfocusing on the mediating effects of self-concept clarity (SCC) and self-esteem (SE) in the relationship between vulnerablenarcissism and social anxiety. Through cluster sampling, a questionnaire survey was conducted among 982 students from threesecondary schools in two provinces. The data was analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM). The results revealedthat there was a significant negative correlation between vulnerable narcissism and both self-concept clarity and self-esteem,while there was a significant positive correlation between vulnerable narcissism and social anxiety. Additionally, self-conceptclarity showed a significant positive correlation with self-esteem but had a negative correlation with social anxiety. Both selfconceptclarity and self-esteem played an intermediary role in the chain linking vulnerable narcissism to social anxiety. Thisstudy confirms the mediating role of both self-concept clarity and self-esteem in explaining how vulnerable narcissisminfluences social anxiety, providing valuable insights into its underlying mechanism.

Does Parental Migration Affect Left-Behind Children’s Social Anxiety?A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Social anxiety is a common psychological problem among left-behind children(LBC)and has been a popular issue in recent years.Children with higher levels of social anxiety have more emotional and behavioral problems and are prone to negative life events.Although several studies have explored the differences in social anxiety between LBC and non-left-behind children(N-LBC),the findings have not been consistent.In this study,a systematic review and meta-analysis method was used,with 411 papers retrieved on October 01,2023,from Pubmed,Embase,Web of Science,and Chinese databases(CNKI,VIP,and Wanfang)(PROSPERO registry number:CRD42023472463).Twenty-one studies met the research criteria and included 11,254 LBC and 13,096 N-LBC.LBC scored significantly higher for social anxiety([WMD(95%CI):0.35[0.23,0.48],p<0.001])and social avoidance and distress([WMD(95%CI):0.35[0.23,0.48],p<0.001]).Subgroup analyses showed significant differences in effect sizes for the overall proportion of children left behind(p=0.02).In addition,different types of parental migration may influence the social anxiety of LBC,double-parent migration was associated higher social anxiety than father migration(p<0.001).Future research should focus on treatments to decrease social anxiety of left-behind children.These findings suggest that due to the long-term absence of parental migration,LBC are more vulnerable to negative emotional experiences and behaviours such as anxiety,distress,and avoidance during social interaction,especially for those with both parents absent from the home.Future research should focus on treatments to reduce social anxiety in LBC.

The Evolutionary Psychological Perspective on Social Anxiety Disorder and Its Underlying Mechanism

An evolutionary view of social anxiety disorder in its original occurrence of function and adaptive design helps us understand why SAD(social anxiety disorder)exists in the first place.In this paper,we found social anxiety can be a useful strategy to acquire better resources and maintain harmony in interpersonal relationships in ancestral environments.This finding helps us reveal how the mismatch between the ancestral and modern world may cause the overreaction we see in SAD in contemporary contexts.In addition,alcohol seems to be a short-term solution to ease the negative impact of SAD,but its long-term effectiveness requires further research.The paper also introduces compassion therapy to encourage patients to rekindle their passion for themselves by connecting with a friendly social environment.To better understand SAD,we encouraged future research to focus on rebuilding inner values and group relationships.

Predictors of Comorbid Psychological Symptoms among Patients with Social Anxiety Disorder after Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy

Aim: The present study aimed to examine the predictors of comorbid psychological symptoms in social anxiety disorder (SAD) after cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT). Methods: One hundred fourteen SAD patients completed manualized group CBT. We examined associations between the personality dimensions of NEO Five Factor Index (NEO-FFI) and the subscales of Symptom Checklist-90 Revised (SCL-90-R) in SAD patients after CBT using multiple regression analysis. Results: High levels of conscientiousness at baseline predicted symptom reduction on 4 SCL-90-R scales, including somatization, obsessive-compulsive, anxiety and global severity index in patients with SAD after CBT. And high levels of agreeableness predicted symptom reduction on 2 SCL-90-R scales, including Hostility and Paranoid Ideation. High levels of openness predicted psychoticism. Conclusion: The present study suggested that high levels of three NEO-FFI dimensions (openness, agreeableness, conscientiousness) might predict comorbid psychological symptoms reduction in SAD patients after CBT. For the purpose of improving comorbid psychological symptoms with SAD patients, it might be useful to pay more attention to these dimensions of NEO-FFI at baseline.

Oral but not written test anxiety is related to social anxiety

AIM To examine the associations of test anxiety(TA) in written vs oral exam situations with social anxiety(SA).METHODS A convenience sample of 204 students was recruited at the Technische Universit?t Dresden(TU Dresden,Germany) and contacted via e-mail asking to complete a cross-sectional online survey based on established questionnaires.The study protocol was approved by the ethics committee of the TU Dresden.Full data of n = 96 students were available for dependent t-tests and correlation analyses on the associations of SA and TA respectively with trigger events,cognitions,safety behaviors,physical symptoms and depersonalization.Analyses were run using SPSS.RESULTS Levels of TA were higher for fear in oral exams than for fear in written exams(M = 48.1,SD = 11.5 vs M = 43.7,SD = 10.1 P < 0.001).Oral TA and SA were positively correlated(Spearman's r = 0.343,P < 0.001;Pearson's r = 0.38,P < 0.001) contrasting written TA and SA(Spearman's r = 0.17,P > 0.05;Pearson's r = 0.223,P > 0.05).Compared to written TA,triggerevents were more often reported for oral TA(18.2% vs 30.3%,P = 0.007);which was also accompanied more often by test-anxious cognitions(7.9% vs 8.5%,P = 0.001),safety behavior(8.9% vs 10.3%,P < 0.001) and physical symptoms(for all,P < 0.001).CONCLUSION Written,but not oral TA emerged being unrelated to SA and may rather not be considered as a typical facet of SA disorder.

Instruments for the assessment of social anxiety disorder: Validation studies

Great progress has been observed in the literature over the last decade regarding the validation of instruments for the assessment of Social Anxiety Disorder in the Brazilian context. Particularly outstanding in this respect is the production of a group of Brazilian investigators regarding the psychometric study of the following instruments: Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale, Social Phobia Inventory, Brief Social Phobia Scale, Disability Profile, Liebowitz Self-Rated Disability Scale, Social Phobia Safety Behaviors Scale and Self-Statements During Public Speaking Scale, which have proved to be appropriate and valid for use in the adult Brazilian population, representing resources for the assessment of social anxiety in clinical and experimental situations.

Dissociated deficits in attentional networks in social anxiety and depression

A critical cognitive symptom that is commonly involved in social anxiety and depression is attentional deficit. However, the functional relationship between attentional deficit and these two disorders remains poorly understood. Here, we behaviorally disentangled the three key attentional components(alerting, orienting, and executive control) using the established attentional network task(ANT) to investigate how social anxiety and depression are related to deficits in these attention components. We identified a double dissociation between the symptoms of social anxiety and depression and the attentional component deficits when processing non-emotional stimuli. While individuals vulnerable to social anxiety exhibited deficits in the orienting component, individuals vulnerable to depression were impaired in the executive control component. Our findings showed that social anxiety and depression were associated with deficits in different attentional components, which are not specific to emotional information.

Associations between levels of Internet Gaming Disorder symptoms and striatal morphology–replication and associations with social anxiety

Background:Brain structural alterations of the striatum have been frequently observed in internet gaming disorder(IGD);however,the replicability of the results and the associations with social-affective dysregulations such as social anxiety remain to be determined.Methods:The present study combined a dimensional neuroimaging approach with both voxel-wise and data-driven multivariate approaches to(i)replicate our previous results on a negative association between IGD symptom load(assessed by the Internet Gaming Disorder Scale-Short Form)and striatal volume,(ii)extend these findings to female individuals,and(iii)employ multivariate and mediation models to determine common brain structural representations of IGD and social anxiety(assessed by the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale).Results:In line with the original study,the voxel-wise analyses revealed a negative association between IGD and volumes of the bilateral caudate.Going beyond the earlier study investigating only male participants,the present study demonstrates that the association in the right caudate was comparable in both the male and the female subsamples.Further examination using themultivariate approach revealed regionally different associations between IGD and social anxiety with striatal density representations in the dorsal striatum(caudate)and ventral striatum(nucleus accumbens).Higher levels of IGD were associated with higher social anxiety and the association was critically mediated by the multivariate neurostructural density variations of the striatum.Conclusions:Altered striatal volumes may represent a replicable and generalizable marker of IGD symptoms.However,exploratory multivariate analyses revealed more complex and regional specific associations between striatal density and IGD as well as social anxiety symptoms.Variations in both tendencies may share common structural brain representations,which mediate the association between increased IGD and social anxiety.

Inhibited and impulsive subgroups of socially anxious young adults: Their depressive symptoms and life satisfaction

Purpose: Socially anxious people are typically thought of as being behaviorally inhibited;however, an atypical subgroup, which is impulsive rather than inhibited, has recently been identified [1]. Theoretically, inhibition and impulsivity could be viewed as different strategies for coping with anxiety that have the same goal—escape from negative emotions—but they seem to have different implications. Previous studies have found that the socially anxious-impulsive subgroup was higher on risk-prone behavior, as for example drug use, compared with a socially anxious-inhibited subgroup [1]. In this study, we aimed to identify these subgroups in a general population, and asked whether they also experience various levels of depressive symptoms and life satisfaction, as well as moderating effects of gender. Methods: Cluster analysis was used to identify subgroups of young adults (20 - 24 years old;N = 772) characterized by different profiles of social anxiety and impulsivity. These subgroups were compared on levels of internal adjustment, and the moderating effects of gender were also tested. Results: We identified five clusters, including an Anxious-Inhibited and an Anxious-Impulsive cluster. In the interaction between gender and cluster membership, gender showed evidence of moderation regarding both depressive symptoms and life satisfaction, with the young women in the Anxious-Inhibited and the Anxious-Impulsive clusters faring worst. Conclusions: We replicated previous findings demonstrating the existence of a socially anxious-impulsive subgroup, thus solidifying current knowledge that may be important when it comes to diagnostics and treatment. This may prove particularly important for young women regarding internalizing symptoms.

Decoding fear of negative evaluation from brain morphology:A machine-learning study on structural neuroimaging data

Background:Fear of negative evaluation(FNE),referring to negative expectation and feelings toward other people’s social evaluation,is closely associated with social anxiety that plays an important role in our social life.Exploring the neural markers of FNE may be of theoretical and practical significance to psychiatry research(e.g.,studies on social anxiety).Methods:To search for potentially relevant biomarkers of FNE in human brain,the current study applied multivariate relevance vector regression,a machine-learning and data-driven approach,on brain morphological features(e.g.,cortical thickness)derived from structural imaging data;further,we used these features as indexes to predict self-reported FNE score in each participant.Results:Our results confirm the predictive power of multiple brain regions,including those engaged in negative emotional experience(e.g.,amygdala,insula),regulation and inhibition of emotional feeling(e.g.,frontal gyrus,anterior cingulate gyrus),and encoding and retrieval of emotional memory(e.g.,posterior cingulate cortex,parahippocampal gyrus).Conclusions:The current findings suggest that anxiety represents a complicated construct that engages multiple brain systems,from primitive subcortical mechanisms to sophisticated cortical processes.