Does social self-efficacy act as a mediator in the relationship between parental control and social anxiety?

This study aimed to investigate the mediating role of social self-efficacy in the relationship between parental control and social anxiety. The study population comprised all first and second-year high school students studying in Ahvaz County during the academic year 2020 to 2021. A total of 373 (53.08% female and 46.92% male) students were selected using multistage cluster sampling. The mean age ( SD) of the participants was 15.06 (2.4) years. The data were collected using the Parental Psychological Control Scale (PPCS), the Social Anxiety Scale for Adolescents (SAS-A), and the Self-Efficacy for Social Situations Scale (SESS). The reliability of the research tools was assessed using Cronbach’s alpha method, and path analysis was used to analyze the data. The results showed that both achievement-oriented and dependency-oriented parental control was directly related to social self-efficacy, which, in turn, was significantly related to social anxiety. Moreover, social self-efficacy completely mediated the relationships between achievement-oriented and dependency-oriented parental control with social anxiety. Therefore, reducing parental psychological control can increase adolescents’ level of social self-efficacy, which can subsequently decrease their social anxiety.