Year: 2016
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: The present study examined how various interpersonal traits and social anxiety relate to the presence and quality of supportive communication behaviors.A sample of undergraduates (n = 143) completed measures of social anxiety, submissiveness, hostility, and prosocial tendencies.Participants then completed an analogue letter-writing task to directly assess supportive communication.Participants were instructed to write a letter of support electronically in response to a presumed anonymous peer who had sought support regarding a distressing situation.The letter-writing task was coded for emotional and informational categories from the Social Support Behavior Code as well as an overall impression code (agentic, communal).Results indicated a lack of relationship between all coded social support behaviors with social anxiety, hostility, submissiveness, and prosocial tendencies.However, social anxiety was positively associated with hostility, submissiveness and prosocial tendencies.Cluster analyses provided evidence for two interpersonal subtypes of socially anxious individuals: low hostility -high submissiveness (Cluster 1) and high hostility -high submissiveness (Cluster 2).Cluster 2 provided more agentic supportive behaviors (i.e., lower quality support) than Cluster 1.Together, results suggest a lack of relationship between both social anxiety and interpersonal traits with supportive communication.Several reasons are proposed for why 4 interpersonal characteristics were not mediated by this narrow context of social behavior.Findings may have implications for the classification and treatment of social anxiety.
Author: Danielle Cooper
Institution: Ohio University
Language: English
Subfield: Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2608764032