Interpersonal problems in social anxiety disorder across different relational contexts

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Clinical Psychology
• Social Psychology

Background:

• Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is frequently associated with interpersonal difficulties.
• The extent to which these interpersonal problems are objectively observable versus subjectively reported remains unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate whether interpersonal problems in individuals with SAD are perceived differently by self-report versus by friends and romantic partners.
• To examine if SAD diagnosis predicts self-reported problems and discrepancies between self and informant reports.

Main Methods:

• Utilized self-report, friend report, and romantic partner report to assess interpersonal problems in individuals with and without SAD.
• Employed structural equation and multilevel modeling to analyze the data.

Main Results:

• Individuals with SAD reported more interpersonal problems across various domains compared to controls.
• Informant reports revealed differences in specific domains of impairment for individuals with SAD.
• Significant discrepancies were found between self-reports and informant reports in individuals with SAD, indicating biased self-perception or lack of concordance.

Conclusions:

• Findings underscore the importance of multi-informant assessment in understanding the interpersonal impairments associated with social anxiety disorder.
• Results suggest that interpersonal problems in SAD are not solely based on biased self-perception but are also observable by close relations, albeit in specific domains.