Social anxiety, self-regulation, and fear of negative evaluation

Social anxiety was investigated in a self-regulation framework in a sample of 174 undergraduates (124 females; 50 males). As expected, individuals higher in social anxiety were lower on the expectancy to achieve goals, lower on self-esteem and lower on the frequency on self-reinforcement. Multiple regression analyses revealed that expectancy to achieve goals, fear of negative evaluation, and public self-consciousness accounted for 33 per cent of the variance in social anxiety. Fear of negative evaluation was found to mediate between (i) self-esteem and social anxiety (as hypothesized) and (ii) self-reinforcement and social anxiety (investigated in an exploratory nature).