| Social Anxiety and Social Phobia in Youth |
| 1 | DEFINITION AND HISTORY OF SOCIAL PHOBIA AND RELATED CONCEPTS IN YOUTH "Amber is a 15 year old girl who is often described by her friends as re- served, quiet, thoughtful, and sometimes a bit passive." "Parker is a 7 year old boy who is socially withdrawn from his class- mates at school and who is described as worrisome and interpersonally awkward by his teachers." "Tamatha is a 4 year old girl who usually cries when around new people or situations or when asked to leave her mother's side." "Alex is a 5 year old boy who, despite being liked by his peers, often keeps to himself at preschool and seems to prefer solitary activities." "Tyanna is a 12 year old girl who has just entered middle school and is feeling moody and anxious about meeting new people." "Daniel is a 13 year old boy who is fearful and anxious when socializ- ing with unknown peers, and often refuses school to avoid strangers, tests, and physical education and English classes." Of all the expectations we have regarding our children, a basic one is that they will enjoy being with other people. |
| 2 | For example, we hope our children will be generally popular and well-liked by classmates, happy to speak to relatives, respectful of others, compliant to adult requests, willing and able to have friends, enthusiastic about attending soccer games and birthday parties and other social events, and cheery and conпdent with peers. As such, we spend a great deal of time talking to our children, en- couraging them to play with others, enrolling them in various activities, and asking them about their friends. |
| 3 | For most children, social experiences are positive, pleasant ones that build interactive skills and facilitate indi- viduation and independence. For other children, however, social experiences may be troublesome, upsetting, or even painful. Indeed, some children struggle in social inter- actions to the point that they cannot engage in even basic activities such as going to school, sleeping at a friend's house, or talking to unfamiliar people. |
| 4 | These children have been described historically in many ways, and some are thought to have social phobia. Social phobia can be generally deпned as a severe, irrational fear and avoidance of social interactions andor situ- ations that involve performance before others, evaluation by others, and possible negative consequences such as embarrassmentH Social phobia is the main topic of this book, but children with difп- culty in social relationships have also been described in many other, re- lated ways. |
| 5 | In this chapter, concepts are introduced that have been used historically to describe people who are reticent about interacting with, and performing before, others. In addition to social phobia, these concepts most often include introversion, shyness, social withdrawal, behavioral inhibition, and social and performance anxiety. All of these concepts overlap to some extent with each other and with social phobia, and may seem indistinguishable in some children. |
| 6 | A good example is introversion, which is discussed next. INTROVERSION Trait theorists have long argued that human personalities can be dis- tilled into several main factors or categories, and some of these seem particularly relevant to social phobia. One trait in particular has been introversion. For example, Jung conceptualized humans as having several basic attitudes or predispositions to act in certain ways. |
| 7 | Introversion was one such attitude, and was charac- terized by aloofness, inhibition, and a focus toward inner experience and away from others. Conversely, extraversion was an attitude characterized by a need for social contact and attention and enthusiasm for cultivating friendships. The concept of introversion-extraversion was greatly expanded by Eysenck, who thought this dimension intersected with a second contin- uum: instability-stability. |
| 8 | Like Jung, extraversion was characterized by a generally sociable and gregar- ious nature, but in Eysenck's approach one that could range from rest- lessness, aggressiveness, anger, and impulsivity (unstable) to conпdence, optimism, and liveliness (stable). Conversely, introversion was character- ized by a generally quiet and reserved nature that could range from rigidity, anxious depressiveness, and extensive social withdrawal (unstable) to sto- icism, thoughtfulness, and temperance (stable). |
| 9 | Amber, described above, might best be characterized as introverted. A trait related to introversion, neuroticism, involves a combination of unstable, introverted characteristics with dysphoria, nervousness, low self-esteem, perfectionism, guilt, and pessimism. A combi- nation of introversion and neuroticism might be closely related to social phobia. Personality trait theorists have, of course, expanded Eysenck's ideas about introversion-extraversion and stability-instability by suggesting di- mensions of openness, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and many others . |
| 10 | However, introversion and extraversion remain powerful descrip- tors of personality today, and their seemingly innate nature spawned the study of related characteristics, such as shyness, which is discussed next. SHYNESS Shyness is often conceptualized as a general tendency toward social withdrawal or intense individuation motivated by concerns or worry about evaluations from others. As such, shyness is often associated with behavioral, cognitive, and emotional features. |
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