The Relation between Parent Rearing Practices and Adolescent Social Anxiety: A Factor Analytic Approach

The purpose of this study was to examine the association between parent rearing practices and adolescent social fears in a community sample (n = 348). Results of an exploratory factor analysis yielded a 3 factor measure of rearing practices, comprised of parental modeling, shame induction, and sociability. Significant differences were found between adolescents with higher levels of social anxiety when compared to adolescents with low levels of social anxiety on levels of parental modeling of social fears and parental communication of shame. However, inconsistent with previous research, no significant differences were found between groups in levels of parent sociability. These findings have the potential to inform the development or refinement of effective prevention and treatment programs for socially anxious adolescents.