An examination of links between social anxiety and self-efficacy using adults\u27 retrospective perceptions of socialization factors

Recent research suggests that various familial and developmental factors may be associated with persons\u27 anxiety in social situations. No studies, however, have examined such factors in an adult population using a comprehensive theoretical framework. One such framework is Bandura\u27s self-efficacy paradigm whose focus on behavior, thoughts, and the environment closely parallels social anxiety research. The present study examines Bandura\u27s four components of self-efficacy verification (i.e., enactive attainments, vicarious experience, persuasory experience, and physiological experience) in relation to adult social anxiety. One hundred and ninety-two undergraduate subjects\u27 perceived social experiences during youth; parental and familial social activities; parent and peer messages regarding social skills; self, parent, and peer interpretations of arousal in social situations; and levels of social anxiety were analyzed. Relations between adults\u27 perceptions of early social experiences and their current anxiety in social settings were expected. Results indicated that recollections of perceived arousal in social settings and of early social experience together best predicted adults\u27 social anxiety and distress while recalled perceptions of arousal alone best predicted their social evaluative fears. Participants\u27 reports of fewer social experiences, fewer parent and familial social activities, fewer positive parent and peer messages about social skills, and more negative labels about one\u27s arousal in social settings as a youth each uniquely predicted greater social avoidance and distress while only recalled social experiences and negative labels of one\u27s arousal in social settings uniquely predicted social evaluative fears. Finally, recollected self perceptions of arousal, with recalled adolescent social activities and father\u27s social activities or alone, best predicted social anxiety and distress and social evaluative fears, respectively. Overall, outcomes support the use of Bandura\u27s self-efficacy model in social anxiety research—particularly as a means of better understanding the role of perceived arousal. Outcomes also suggest that physiological assessment, education about actual or perceived arousal, and parent education about negative social messages may aid in the treatment of social anxiety