The association between ruminative thinking and negative interpretation bias in social anxiety.
Cognitive models propose that both, negative interpretations of ambiguous social situations and ruminative thoughts about social events contribute to the maintenance of social anxiety disorder. It has further been postulated that ruminative thoughts fuel biased negative interpretations, however, evidence is rare. The present study used a multi-method approach to assess ruminative processing following a social interaction (post-event processing by self-report questionnaire and social rumination by experience sampling method) and negative interpretation bias (via two separate tasks) in a student sample (n = 51) screened for high (HSA) and low social anxiety (LSA). Results support the hypothesis that group differences in negative interpretations of ambiguous social situations in HSAs vs. LSAs are mediated by higher levels of post-event processing assessed in the questionnaire. Exploratory analyses highlight the potential role of comorbid depressive symptoms. The current findings help to advance the understanding of the association between two cognitive processes involved in social anxiety and stress the importance of ruminative post-event processing.
a Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy , Freie Universität Berlin , Berlin , Germany.
Marcel
M
Badra
a Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy , Freie Universität Berlin , Berlin , Germany.
Lars
L
Schulze
b Clinical Psychology , Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University , Nijmegen , The Netherlands.
Eni S
ES
Becker
c Department of Psychiatry , Radboud University Medical Center , Nijmegen , The Netherlands.
Janna Nonja
JN
Vrijsen
a Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy , Freie Universität Berlin , Berlin , Germany.
Babette
B
Renneberg
a Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy , Freie Universität Berlin , Berlin , Germany.
Ulrike
U
Zetsche
D000328:Adult; D003863:Depression / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D000072861:Phobia, Social / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology*; D013850:Thinking; D055815:Young Adult
Social anxiety; experience sampling; interpretation bias; post-event processing; rumination