The Social Interaction And Anxiety Scale

Social anxiety is “a fear of humiliation or of being judged by others, and an avoidance of social situations where attention centers on the individual” (Martis). According to the Social Anxiety Institute, social anxiety has become the third largest psychological disorder, following depression and alcoholism (Richards). Commonly, victims of this social phobia have problems pursuing social environments, interactions, and relationships (“Social Anxiety Disorder”). The failure to fulfill daily requirements in jobs, social settings, and relationships often leaves them feeling “powerless, alone, or even ashamed” (“Social Anxiety Disorder”). Today in America,“15 million [people] suffer[from] the disorder” (“Social Anxiety Disorder”). Of the 15 million American adults affected, women and men are equally prone to develop the phobia (“Social Phobia (Social Anxiety Disorder)”). Currently, the prevalence rate for acquiring social anxiety disorder is “13-14% of all Americans” and continues to rise (Richards). As the number of people affected by social anxiety continues to rise, the understanding of social anxiety’s causes, effects, and treatments is crucial.

Social anxiety is more common in our society than we would like to believe. Most forms of anxiety are relatively normal and can sometimes be a good thing to have. “Normal anxiety” is relatively universal in the sense that everyone feels anxious or worried at one point in time. In fact it is those unpleasant feelings that can motivate a person to get something done and be productive. In this case, a college student who is experiencing stress or worry can focus all of that energy into their assignments so that the feelings never return. However, when anxiety begins to impede on our daily activities that is when this kind of social anxiety gets classified as a disorder. Someone who is

Social anxiety latches on to its victims and sucks all hope and motivation for self improvement and success to the point where it seems that any and all attempts to overcome it are out of reach. What once was a crippling disadvantage, is now what I have to thank for becoming my true self. It took four years to be able manage the sense of trepidation and overwhelming panic when going about day-to-day activities such as asking questions in class or even having a conversation with any acquaintances; however, I would not change anything that I have experienced.

One-hundred and forty five participants, which made up of college students in Florida International University and Miami Dade County residences. These contributors came from different demographics background. There were 65 were male (44.8%) and 80 were female (55.2%). The age of the sample ranged from 12 to 57 (M = 1.55, SD = 0.499). This included 25.5% Caucasian (N = 37), 52.4% Hispanic (N = 76), 3.4% Native American (N = 5), 6.2% African American (N = 9), 4.8% Asian (N = 7), and 7.6% of participants reporting “other” (N = 11).

The questioner that will be administered to the participants will be the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale and The Rathus Assertiveness Schedule. The Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale comprises of 13 questions related to performance anxiety and 11 concern social situations. The scale is composed of 24 items divided into 2 subscales, 13 items concerning performance anxieties, and 13 items concerning to social situations. The items on the test are first rated from 0 to 3 on fear felt during the situations. Secondly, the same items then are rated regarding avoidance of the situation. Subsequently, the total score of the fear and avoidance are combined and will be utilized to assess if race and ethnicity are significantly impacted by these factors. For the purposes of this perspective, experiment scores will also be assessed separately and assessed to identify if fear or anxiety and avoidance are impacted by assertiveness.

Social anxiety disorder (SAD), also know as social phobia, affects between 1.6% and 4.0% of children. Like other anxiety disorders, girls are more likely to be diagnosed with SAD than boys (Chavira & Stein, 2002). The defining features of SAD are excessive self-consciousness that is more than just common shyness. Individuals with SAD fear social or performance situations where they may face scrutiny or humiliation. The two subtypes of SAD are generalized and non-generalized. Approximately 75% of individuals with SAD experience the generalized type, which is characterized by experiencing distress in almost all social situations. Non-generalized SAD is characterized by experiencing anxiety in only one or two types of interpersonal situations, like public speaking. Generalized social anxiety disorder has high comorbidity with major depression, generalized anxiety disorder, specific phobias, and ADHD. Non-generalized SAD however has low comorbidity with other disorders. Children with selective mutism have a significantly high comorbidity rate with SAD, about 97% to 100% (Chavira & Stein, 2005).

“Is a 17-item Likert-type self-report instrument assessing fear, avoidance, and physiological symptoms associated with social phobia”

Participants were recruited using an availability sample. Each of the researchers collected four acquaintances and collected data, then submitted each response to build a conjoined data set. The group consisted of 106 females and 120 males, for a total of 226 participants between the ages of 11 and 57 years of age (M = 23.99, SD = 8.46). Our sample was made up of individuals indicating their ethnicity as 54.9% as White/Caucasian (N = 124), with 28.8% identifying themselves as Hispanic/Latino/a (N = 65), with 8% identifying themselves as Black/African-American (N = 18), with 3.5% identifying themselves as more than one ethnicity/race (N = 8), with 2.7% identifying themselves as Asian/Pacific Islander (N = 6), with 1.8%

Social anxiety disorder negatively impacts a person’s social life. According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America “SAD affects 15 million adults, or 6.8% of the U.S. population.” A person with social

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5, American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2013), describes social anxiety disorder (SAD) is a disorder that is expressed by a constant fear of receiving negative evaluation by others within a social situation. A social situation is one that can be defined as a scenario where the individual believes there is an audience present (Heimberg, Brozovich, & Rapee, 2014) and is often the beginning of the disorder. Many years of research have been undergone to establish models that describe the etiology of SAD, however, the Cognitive Behavioural Model is the most well known and most referred to. As this model is extensive, this essay will not have the capacity to encompass all aspect of

Social Phobia, also called social anxiety disorder (SAD), is one of the most common, but misconstrued mental health problems in society. According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA), over 15 million adults suffer from the disorder. First appearing in the DSM-III as Social Phobia, and later in the DSM-IV as Social Anxiety Disorder, this newly established disorder denotes afflicting stress and anxiety associated with social situations (Zakri 677). According to James W. Jefferson, two forms of Social phobia exist: specific and generalized. Specific social phobia indicates anxiety limited to few performance situations, while generalized indicates anxiety in all social situations (Jefferson). Many people often interchangeably link this disorder to shyness––a personality trait. However, although they have striking similarities, the two are divergent. To begin with, SAD has an extensive etiology ranging from multiple factors. Furthermore, symptoms of various aspects accompany SAD. Moreover, SAD has detrimental impacts affecting quality of life. Lastly, SAD has numerous methods of treatment. Social Phobia is prevalent in both women and men beginning at the onset of puberty (ADAA).

Among all anxiety problems, social anxiety disorder is most common anxiety issue and third most common problem in all mental complications (American Psychiatric Association, 2000; Hofmann & Bogels, 2006). SAD is a mental disorder which has a tendency to become chronic and badly disturbs normal functions of life if not diagnosed and treated in time (Beesdo-Baum, et al., 2012; Garcia-Lopez, Piqueras, Diaz-Castela, & Ingles, 2008). It is also among the most prevailing mental disorders and is described in Criterion A of DSM-V as “Marked fear or anxiety about one or more social situations in which the individual is exposed to possible scrutiny by others. Examples include social interactions (e.g., having a conversation, meeting unfamiliar people), being observed (e.g., eating or drinking), and performing in front of others (e.g., giving a speech)” (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). A specific amount of anxiety is always anticipated socially and helps an individual managing future threats (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). But having social anxiety means that anxiety is too much for normal functioning during social situations and often interferes with

Social Anxiety Disorder or social phobia, is the third largest mental health care problem in the world. (Stein, 2010) National statistical surveys carried out in 2002 in the United Kingdom suggest that the prevalence rates for social phobias among young people in the UK were around 4%. (National Statistics, 2002)

Also the retest-reliability of the Interaction Anxiousness Scale (IAS; Leary, 1983) is .80. “The correlation coefficient of the IAS and Social Avoidance and Distress Scale (SAD; Peng et al., 2004) is 0.66, whereas it is 0.29 for the Self-rating Anxiety Scale.” Although the IAS was very valid, it did not cover all factors of social anxiety of the Tibetan, Han, and Muslim college students in Qinghai Province. Another limitation was the stratified random sampling that they used in their study. Representations of this study are unclear because of this method of sampling is random and simple. This sampling method should be paired with other sampling methods to make this study more effective and representations more clear. A further limitation was time and capacity therefore limiting the researchers. They did not consider situational factors effect anxiety in their studies on the students. Furthermore they only studied students of Tibetan, Han, and Muslim ethnicity so the result may not be generalized to other

Fear is a common emotion exhibited by people who stutter (PWS). The fear of negative evaluation is commonly displayed by PWS (Fjola, 1246); when this fear is significantly excessive, the PWS may meet the criteria for a clinical diagnosis of social anxiety (Brundage, Winters, & Beilby, p. 499). Social anxiety frequently causes PWS to isolate themselves from social interactions, and, when in situations, to utilize safety behaviors to prevent stuttering and reduce anxiety. Safety behaviors consequently maintain social anxiety in PWS rather than exacerbate the disorder (Lowe et al., 2017, pp. 1246-1247). More is known regarding the development of social anxiety is adults who stutter (AWS) than the information pertaining to children who stutter (CWS) and their fear of negative evaluation which results in social anxiety (Iverach, Menzies, O’Brian, Packman, & Onslow, 2011, p. 228). The difference in available information may be due to the thought that social anxiety is a short-term effect in CWS but a life-long effect in AWS (Iverach, Jones, McLellan, Lyneham, Menzies, Onslow, & Rapee, 2016, p. 15).