Constructing a self: The role of self-structure and self-certainty in social anxiety

Abstract

Current cognitive models stress the importance of negative self-perceptions in maintaining social anxiety, but focus predominantly on content rather than structure. Two studies examine the role of self-structure (self-organisation, self-complexity, and self-concept clarity) in social anxiety. In study one, self-organisation and self-concept clarity were correlated with social anxiety, and a step-wise multiple regression showed that after controlling for depression and self-esteem, which explained 35% of the variance in social anxiety scores, self-concept clarity uniquely predicted social anxiety and accounted for an additional 7% of the variance in social anxiety scores in an undergraduate sample (N = 95) and the interaction between self-concept clarity and compartmentalisation (an aspect of evaluative self-organisation) at step 3 of the multiple regression accounted for a further 3% of the variance in social anxiety scores. In study two, high (n = 26) socially anxious participants demonstrated less self-concept clarity than low socially anxious participants (n = 26) on both self-report (used in study one) and on computerised measures of self-consistency and confidence in self-related judgments. The high socially anxious group had more compartmentalised self-organisation than the low anxious group, but there were no differences between the two groups on any of the other measures of self-organisation. Self-complexity did not contribute to social anxiety in either study, although this may have been due to the absence of a stressor. Overall, the results suggest that self-structure has a potentially important role in understanding social anxiety and that self-concept clarity and other aspects of self-structure such as compartmentalisation interact with each other and could be potential maintaining factors in social anxiety. Cognitive therapy for social phobia might influence self-structure, and understanding the role of structural variables in maintenance and treatment could eventually help to improve treatment outcome.

Decreased Self-Concept Clarity in People with Schizophrenia

“…One recent study that screened for depression found a mean of 43.49 (Diehl & Hay, 2011), higher than the mean in the HASCI. Given that SCC has been linked to different types of psychopathology including depression and anxiety (Butzer & Kuiper, 2006; van Dijk et al, 2014), social anxiety (Stopa, Brown, Luke, & Hirsch, 2010), and psychopathology being common in the general population (Kessler et al, 2005) the reason there is a significant difference in the original but not the HASCI sample may be due to psychopathology, and resulting lower SCC, in the HASCI sample. Future research could examine whether people with schizophrenia have lower SCC than psychiatric comparison groups such as major depression, generalized anxiety disorder, or bipolar disorder to determine whether low SCC is specific to schizophrenia or related to psychopathology more broadly.…”

Self-concept clarity, social support, and compulsive Internet use: A study of the US and the UAE

“…Thus, Wilson and Rapee (2006) concluded that low SCC was a key predictor of social phobia beyond the effect of depressive and anxiety symptoms. Similarly, Stopa et al (2010) also found self-concept clarity to predict social anxiety in a sample of undergraduate studies beyond self-esteem and depression. In short, a disintegrated self-concept could significantly impair individuals' adaptive relationships with others, which further impedes clarifying their self-concept.…”

“…Building on studies that report a strong link between low self-concept clarity and social anxiety in face-toface contexts (e.g. Stopa, Brown, Luke, & Hirsch, 2010), we expected this trait to be particularly central in predicting a person's likelihood to make up for the difficulties of faceto-face interactions with online encounters. Importantly, we argue that, at low levels of social support and in line with the importance that Davis's (2001) model gives to the social aspects, self-concept clarity would be a key vulnerability factor of CIU.…”

Why is the Self Important in Understanding and Treating Social Phobia?

“…We have recently been investigating these three different aspects of self-structure, namely, self-complexity, self-concept clarity, and self-organisation (Stopa, Brown, Luke, & Hirsch, 2009). In our first study involving 98 undergraduate students, we found that selfconcept clarity and self-organisation, together with depression and self-esteem, predicted about 40% of the variance in social anxiety scores, but self-concept clarity was the only unique predictor.…”