Social Anxiety and Adolescents’ Friendships: The Role of Social Withdrawal
Abstract
Research indicates social anxiety is associated with lower friendship quality, but little is known about the underlying mechanisms. This 2-month longitudinal study examined social withdrawal as a mediator of the social anxiety–friendship quality link in a sample of 214 adolescents ( M age = 13.1 years, SD = .73) that included an oversampling of adolescents recently relocated to the community ( n = 155). Findings provided preliminary support for the hypothesized models, in which social anxiety is associated with social withdrawal, which in turn is related to lower companionship and intimacy in adolescents’ friendships. Analyses testing whether relocation to a new community intensifies these associations indicated additive, but not multiplicative, effects of social anxiety and relocation on friendship companionship and intimacy. Implications include the importance of increasing socially anxious youths’ social engagement and skills with friends as well as with less familiar peers.
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Stronger associations between social anxiety and social functioning and friendship quality have been observed among women than men in some prior research, although these effects are not consistently observed in other studies.
“However, stronger associations between social anxiety and social functioning and friendship quality have been observed among women than men in some prior research (Biggs et al., 2012, La Greca & Lopez 1998;Vernberg et al., 1992), although these effects are not consistently observed in other studies (Brook & Willoughby, 2015;Tillfors et al., 2012).”
From Social anxiety mediates the effect of attachment to parents on friendships and loneliness during the college transition (2023) · cites this paper as Biggs et al., 2012
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Social Anxiety among Adolescents: Linkages with Peer Relations and Friendships
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The Social Ties That Bind: Social Anxiety and Academic Achievement Across the University Years
Brook, C. A., & Willoughby, T. (2015) · Journal of Youth and Adolescence · doi:10.1007/s10964-015-0262-8 · Cited by 183 · see citing works
Chiu, K., Clark, D. M., & Leigh, E. (2021) · Journal of Affective Disorders · doi:10.1016/j.jad.2020.10.055 · Cited by 155 · see citing works
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The role of family for youth friendships: examining a social anxiety mechanism
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Social phobia and educational and interpersonal impairments in adolescence: a prospective study
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- Authors
- Biggs, B. K., Vernberg, E. M., & Wu, Y. P.
- Affiliations
- University of Kansas (US)
- Venue
- The Journal of Early Adolescence
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2011-12-05
- Volume
- 32
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 802-823
- ISSN
- 0272-4316 (ISSN-L)
- 1552-5449
- OpenAlex
- W2130616757
- Cited by
- 90
- References
- 5
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 12 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 1 · 2015: 5 · 2014: 9 · 2013: 3
- FWCI
- 4.14
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- The Journal of Early Adolescence (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Bullying, Victimization, and Aggression
- Keywords
- social anxiety, adolescent friendships, friendship quality, social withdrawal, friendship intimacy, relocation, peer relationships, mediation
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