title: Cultural mediators of self-reported social anxiety.
abstract: East Asians generally endorse higher social anxiety than do Westerners. Widely used measures of social anxiety, however, may not account for different social values across cultures. Drawing from Korean (n=251) and Euro-Canadian (n=250) community samples, this study used a cross-sectional design to examine the relationship between ratings of social anxiety and beliefs and self-views typically found in East Asian cultures. Results indicated that independent self-construal and identity consistency, views of the self that are typically associated with Western cultures, fully mediate the ethnic difference on self-reported social anxiety. Moreover, two indicators of East Asian views of the self in social contexts (interdependent self-construal and self-criticism) were partial mediators. Overall, the data suggest conceptualizations of pathological social anxiety may need to be revised to be useful for studying individuals in East Asian cultures.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. jjhong@stanford.edu
authors.forename: Janie J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.forename: Sheila R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Woody
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety / Q000208:ethnology*; D044466:Asian People / Q000523:psychology*; D002170:Canada / Q000453:epidemiology; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010698:Phobic Disorders / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology; D012649:Self Concept; D012647:Self-Assessment; D044465:White People / Q000523:psychology