Master of Arts, University of Toledo, 2023, Psychology - Clinical

Problematic social networking site use (PSNSU) has demonstrated associations with social anxiety symptom severity across the literature; however, less is known about transdiagnostic psychopathology-related variables that may mediate relationships between PSNSU and fear of evaluation. There is an especially prominent gap regarding mediating variables between PSNSU and fear of evaluation - involving difficulties in emotion regulation (DER) and intolerance of uncertainty (IU). The present study builds on recent research findings that fear of negative evaluation (FNE) and difficulties in emotion regulation are associated with PSNSU severity, and that intolerance of uncertainty is related to PSNSU severity and motives for addictive behavior. There is also a lack of literature regarding how fear of positive evaluation (FPE), a construct unique to social anxiety, relates to PSNSU severity. Given the current prevalence of SNS usage and the social nature of these sites, it is especially important to explore whether individuals who fear social evaluation use SNSs in a problematic way, and whether lesser-studied transdiagnostic constructs such as intolerance of uncertainty and difficulties in emotion regulation mediate the relationship between fear of evaluation and subsequent PSNSU. The present study explored this gap in the literature with a mediation model in which DER and IU explained relations between both FNE and FPE with PSNSU. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), structural equation modeling (SEM), and mediation analyses indicated that IU and DER mediated the relationship between FNE and PSNSU, but did not mediate the relationship between FPE and PSNSU. These findings highlight the role of IU in PSNSU for individuals experiencing social anxiety symptoms, which has not been previously established, and provide further support for the relationship of DER with FNE and PSNSU, where DER particularly functions as a mediator of this relationship.

Committee: Jon Elhai (Committee Chair); Peter Mezo (Committee Member); Matthew Tull (Committee Member) Subjects: Behavioral Sciences; Clinical Psychology; Psychology; Technology

Master of Science (MS), Ohio University, 2014, Clinical Psychology (Arts and Sciences)

Research on implicit associations in psychopathology suggests that socially anxious individuals may have implicit associations congruent with the core cognitive constructs/concerns in social anxiety, such as stronger negative associations for social stimuli and fears of evaluation. The literature also indicates that implicit associations are useful for predicting spontaneous behavioral reactions. The present study recruited two groups (n=25 for each group) of persons high in social anxiety versus persons low in social anxiety (i.e., N = 50). Participants engaged in three implicit tests that assessed their attitudes towards: general social stimuli, positive social stimuli, and negative social stimuli. Participants then delivered an impromptu speech task, after which they completed each of the implicit tests once more. It was hypothesized that: (a) groups would differ significantly on implicit associations for social stimuli and fears of evaluation, such that persons high in social anxiety would demonstrate more negative implicit associations across social stimuli compared to low socially anxious persons; and (b) implicit measures would predict behavioral anxiety ratings based on performance during a speech task within the overall sample. Results were in partial support of the study hypotheses: (a) partially consistent with hypotheses, highly socially anxious persons demonstrated significantly greater negative implicit associations for negatively valenced social stimuli (but not general or positive social stimuli); and (b) implicit 4 measures assessing associations for general social stimuli, and negatively valenced social stimuli, significantly to marginally predicted observer-rated eye gaze during the speech task. There was also a significant decrease in the strength of implicit associations for positively-valenced social stimuli following the impromptu speech task. Treatment and assessment implications, and limitations to the study, will be discussed.

Committee: Justin Weeks PhD. (Advisor) Subjects: Psychology

Master of Science (MS), Ohio University, 2015, Clinical Psychology (Arts and Sciences)

According to psycho-evolutionary models, self-conscious emotions operate as warning signals pertaining to threats to one's social rank, and trigger submissive behavioral responses, which serve to appease group members. Although negative social interactions may provoke fear of rejection, positive social interactions may provoke fear that one will come into conflict with more powerful others who may become threatened by an individual's social gains (e.g., see Weeks, Jakatdar, & Heimberg, 2010). The proposed study examined emotional (e.g., state anxiety) and behavioral (e.g., submissive head orientation) responses to positive attention. To study these effects, participants were randomly assigned to either: (1) experience more positive attention than expected by social norms (i.e., overinclusion) or (2) a control condition (i.e., a reasonably expected amount of positive attention [inclusion]) during a simulated “getting acquainted” task. It was hypothesized that trait levels of social anxiety would interact with experimental condition to predict (1) self-reported state levels of anxiety and (2) submissive displays. Although state anxiety did not vary by experimental condition, the interaction of trait social anxiety and condition predicted submissive head movements. Specifically, highly socially anxious participants tilted their heads leftward during the task (reflecting increased self-conscious emotions), and this relationship was strongest in response to greater positive attention (overinclusion), whereas less socially anxious participants tended to tilt their heads rightward when receiving greater positive attention. It appears that positive social attention can trigger involuntary displays of self-conscious emotions in the absence of explicit reports of anxiety.

Committee: Justin Weeks Ph.D. (Advisor); Peggy Zoccola Ph.D. (Committee Member); Kimberly Rios Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Psychology