The Relationship Between Levels of Social Anxiety, Self-Efficacy and Emotion Regulation Skills in Young Adults

According to the overall findings, young adults experiencing difficulties with emotion regulation (suppressing emotions, being unable to understand what they are feeling) have significantly higher levels of social anxiety and anxiety. It was found that young adults who manage their emotions using ‘Cognitive Restructuring’ (the ability to view situations from a positive or flexible perspective) feel much more at ease in social settings and experience reduced anxiety levels.A strong, negative (inverse) correlation has been found between young adults’ general self-efficacy (belief in oneself/confidence in one’s ability to succeed) and their levels of social anxiety. In other words, the higher a young person’s self-efficacy belief—that ‘I can cope with this situation’—the less they fear being humiliated or excluded (social anxiety) when entering social settings. A direct link has been found between young adults’ levels of social anxiety and their emotion regulation skills. The results of the analysis and research confirm that emotion regulation skills are a key variable in predicting anxiety in social settings.