Relation of social anxiety to self-focused attention and interpersonal needs in college students / 中国心理卫生杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective: To explore the mediating effects of self-focused attention between social anxiety and interpersonal needs. Methods: Totally 467 college students [159 males and 221 females, mean age (21 ±2)] were assessed with the Social Anxiety Scale (SAS), Self-Focused Attention Scale (SFAS) and Interpersonal Needs Questionnaire (INQ ). The bootstrap method was used to test the mediating effect Results: The SFAS and INQ scores were higher in female students than in males (Ps <0.01). The scores of SAS, SFAS, and INQ were positively correlated each other (r = 0.20 - 0.90, Ps < 0.01). Self-focused attention has a full mediating effect between social anxiety and interpersonal needs, and the 95％ confidence interval was (0.34, 0.59). Conclusion: It suggests that the effect of interpersonal needs on social anxiety may be achieved through self-focused attention in college students. Reducing the level of self-focused attention may be an important way to alleviate social anxiety among college students.