Perception of Performance as a Mediator in the Relationship Between Social Anxiety and Negative Post-Event Rumination

Self Cite

Cognitive models emphasise the importance of pre-and post-event rumination as maintaining factors of Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD), however, there is limited research investigating pre-event rumination. This study aims to examine several key hypotheses posited by the cognitive models by experimentally manipulating social standards in order to examine the impact of high and low perceived social standards on appraisal processes, state anxiety, and negative rumination, and to determine if the predictors of pre-event rumination will mirror those of post-event rumination. The sample consisted of 91 participants, including 46 participants with SAD and 45 nonanxious controls. Socially anxious participants in this study engaged in more pre-and post-event rumination, had higher threat appraisals, and lower self-appraisals of performance than non-anxious controls. Socially anxious participants who believed that they were expected to perform to a high standard in anticipation of a speech task reported poorer ratings of self-efficacy than socially anxious participants in the low standard condition and nonanxious controls. Additionally, whilst anticipated selfappraisals of performance, threat appraisal, self-efficacy, and state anxiety were predictive of pre-event rumination, threat appraisal was the only significant predictor of postevent rumination. This study extends the current knowledge of the cognitive processes within SAD, which has clinical implications.

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 57%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Impact of Perceived Standards on State Anxiety, Appraisal Processes, and Negative Pre- and Post-event Rumination in Social Anxiety Disorder

Penney

Abbott

2014

Self Cite

“…According to Clark and Wells (1995), socially anxious individuals will engage in PEP if they experience such negative cognitions during the situation. In support of this hypothesis, Perini et al (2006) found that socially anxious individuals engaged in PEP only if they appraised their performance negatively. Thus the present study investigated whether negative social cognitions during a social situation predict whether individuals engage in negative PEP.…”

Section: The Type Of Social Situationmentioning

confidence: 81%

“…Studies have shown that socially anxious subjects tend to utilise state anxiety sensations to make negative inferences of their appearance and performance, and the level of danger in a social situation (Arntz et al 1995;Mansell and Clark 1999). Given that negative performance appraisals are an important predictor of PEP (Perini et al 2006), state anxiety may be associated with greater PEP, particularly among high socially anxious individuals. However the study by McEvoy and Kingsep (2006) had several limitations: state anxiety was assessed with a single-item questionnaire, anxiety was assessed retrospectively thereby introducing memory biases, and their sample only contained social phobia patients.…”

Section: The Type Of Social Situationmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Predictors and Contents of Post-Event Processing in Social Anxiety

Makkar

Grisham

2011

The present study investigated the factors that influence the likelihood that individuals engage in postevent processing (PEP)-the act of engaging in a detailed, negative, and self-focused review following social situations. This study also examined the cognitive contents of PEP in a nonclinical sample (N = 40). Participants undertook both a 5-min speech and conversation and then completed measures assessing cognitions, behaviours, and physiological processes that occurred during each task. Twenty-four hours later, PEP was measured in relation to both tasks. Results showed firstly that PEP was greater following the speech than the conversation. Secondly, negative assumptions were found to be a unique predictor of PEP over and above depression, trait anxiety, and other cognitive-behavioural variables. Finally, higher levels of social anxiety were associated with experiencing more negative self-perceptions and regret-based cognitions during PEP. Current findings underscore the importance of targeting negative assumptions, self-related cognitions, and regret-based thoughts in therapy.

“…To illustrate, Rachman et al (2000) found that compared to low socially anxious individuals, high socially anxious individuals engaged in significantly more post-event rumination about unsatisfactory social events. Abbott and Rapee (2004), and Perini et al (2006) reported that higher levels of social anxiety were associated with more post-event rumination. Furthermore, Vassilopoulos (2004) reported a positive association between social anxiety and anticipatory processing, even when controlling for depression and trait anxiety.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Does Rumination Predict the Strength of Maladaptive Self-Beliefs Characteristic of Social Anxiety Over Time?

Wong

Moulds

2010

Two important components of the Clark and Wells (in Social phobia: diagnosis, assessment, and treatment. Guilford, New York, pp 69-93, 1995) model of social phobia are ruminative processing and maladaptive self-beliefs (high standard, conditional and unconditional beliefs). In a longitudinal design, we hypothesised that rumination at Time 1 would be positively associated with the strength of each of the belief types at Time 2 (while controlling for depression, general anxiety, social anxiety and strength of belief types at Time 1). For our sample of undergraduates (N = 180), the average time between Time 1 and Time 2 was 8.84 days. Contrary to predictions, rumination at Time 1 was not uniquely related to the high standard beliefs at Time 2. Consistent with predictions, higher levels of rumination at Time 1 uniquely predicted stronger conditional and unconditional beliefs at Time 2. These results highlight the link between ruminative processing and specific maladaptive self-beliefs, and suggest that treatments of social phobia need to explicitly target rumination.