A pervasive pattern of social timidity, social anxiety disorder (SAD; American Psychiatric Association, 2000) is the third most common psychological disorder in the United States (Kashdan & Herbert, 2001). SAD exists across the life span, with an average age of onset of mid-adolescence. It is interesting to note that despite the broad acceptance of this time as a critical onset period (Liebowitz, Gorman, Fyer, & Klein, 1985;Turner, Beidel, Dancu, & Keys, 1986), there has been relatively little study of SAD specifically as it presents in adolescence and young adulthood (e.g., Essau, Conradt, & Petermann, 1999). With very few exceptions, studies examining the psychopathology of SAD either restrict themselves to adult populations or to combined populations of children and adolescents (e.g., Arnold et al., 2003;Spence, Donovan, & Brechman-Toussaint, 1999). Such a combination is problematic because childhood and adolescence represent distinctly different age groups. Each period is characterized by rapid and extensive development, with unique physical, cognitive, and behavioral maturational stages. Clearly, these different developmental stages influence how the symptoms of SAD will be manifested at these distinct age periods.
