title: Differences in social anxiety between men and women across 18 countries.
abstract: Sex differences between men and women in social anxiety are largely unexplored. This study sought to shed some light on this topic. We administered self-report measures of social anxiety to community samples of 17,672 women and 13,440 men from 16 Latin American countries, Spain and Portugal, as well as to a clinical sample of 601 patients diagnosed with social anxiety disorder. Small but significant differences were found between men and women in the general degree of social anxiety and self-reported fears of interactions with the opposite sex, criticism and embarrassment, and speaking in public-talking to people in authority. These results point to small, but meaningful differences between men and women in social anxiety. Implications of these results for the self-report measurement of social anxiety in men and women are discussed.
authors: Faculty of Psychology, University of Granada, 18071 Granada, Spain.
authors: Vicente E
authors: VE
authors: Caballo
authors: Faculty of Psychology, University of Granada, 18071 Granada, Spain.
authors: Isabel C
authors: IC
authors: Salazar
authors: Department of Psychology, University of Valladolid, 47011 Valladolid, Spain.
authors: María Jesús
authors: MJ
authors: Irurtia
authors: Department of Psychology, University of Valladolid, 47011 Valladolid, Spain.
authors: Benito
authors: B
authors: Arias
authors: Department of Psychology and Brain Science, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA.
authors: Stefan G
authors: SG
authors: Hofmann
keywords: Age differences; Cross-cultural differences; SAQ-A30; Sex differences; Social anxiety; Social phobia