Fear of Negative Evaluation as a Mediator of the Relation between Academic Stress, Anxiety and Depression in a Sample of Ghanaian College Students

Abstract

This study examined the mediator effects of the fear of negative evaluation (FNE) on the relation between academic stress and psychological symptoms in a sample of Ghanaian college students (N = 431). A multi-step structural equation modelling (SEM) procedure was used to test the specified mediator model and several fit indices were calculated to assess how well the model fit the data. In addition, path coefficients were calculated to determine whether mediation had been established. The results indicated that the specified model produced a good fit to the data. Moreover, the findings revealed that FNE partially mediated the relation between academic stress and the psychological symptoms of anxiety and depression. Implications for the study’s findings are discussed and recommendations for future research are presented.

Psychological inflexibility mediates the relationship between fear of negative evaluation and psychological vulnerability

“…FNE is an indicator of psychological functioning and adjustment. FNE has an important role on stress, anxiety, interpretation biases, and psychological well-being (Dryman and Heimberg 2015 ; Nonterah et al 2015 ). Individuals who have fear of being negatively evaluated avoid social interactions requiring social performance.…”

“…Indeed, they try to look for safe behaviors to stay away from negative evaluation and criticism that might lead to suffering for them (Çetin et al 2010 ; Rapee and Heimberg 1997 ). Such rigid coping behaviors, coupling with the claim for a positive impression, lead to vulnerability to psychological dysfunctioning and finally result in a vicious circle (Fay et al 2008 ; Nonterah et al 2015 ). Excessive coping patterns can play detrimental roles in psychological adjustment (Kornienko and Santos 2014 ).…”

“…They fear the loss of social appreciation. They are more inclined to make inaccurate explanation of neutral expressions and exhibit higher levels of distress in comparison to people with lower levels of FNE (Nonterah et al 2015 ; Winton et al 1995 ). People with higher levels of FNE are more likely to interpret ambiguous social situations in a detrimental manner (Dryman and Heimberg 2015 ).…”

Prefrontal Cortical Response to Negative Social Words Links Social Risk to Depressive Symptoms in Adolescence

“…It is important to note that DLPFC activity accounted for the relationship between fear of negative evaluation and anxiety symptoms. This result may be because fear of negative evaluation has been frequently associated with both anxiety and depression (Lipton et al., ; Nonterah et al., ; O'Connor et al., ; Weeks et al., ). In contrast, findings suggest that peer victimization may have a specific association with depressive symptoms through alteration in prefrontal function.…”

“…Social risk factors may include exposure to negative social experiences or social-cognitive vulnerabilities. This study focuses on two social risk factors that are developmentally salient in adolescence: peer victimization, a type of social experience strongly associated with increases in depressive symptoms (Hawker & Boulton, 2000;Sweeting, Young, West, & Der, 2006), and fear of negative evaluation, a social-cognitive vulnerability linked to internalizing problems, including anxiety and depression (Lipton, Weeks, & De Los Reyes, 2016;Nonterah et al, 2015;O'Connor, Berry, Weiss, & Gilbert, 2002;Weeks et al, 2005). The construct of fear of negative evaluation plays a key role in motivating individuals to expect and perceive criticism from others, and is similar to other depressogenic social-cognitive styles characterized by sensitivity to social feedback and negatively biased interpretations of social cues (e.g., rejection sensitivity, critical self-referential biases; Liu, Kraines, Massing-Schaffer, & Alloy, 2014;Prinstein, Cheah, & Guyer, 2005).…”