A new approach to social anxiety from the attachment perspective: An investigation of the roles of fears of evaluation in the relationship between attachment patterns and social anxiety

Attachment patterns and fears of evaluation are considered as separate factors in the aetiology of social anxiety disorder (SAD). In this study, two hypotheses tested regarding the possible mediator roles of fears of evaluation: (1) whether the relationship between anxious attachment and social anxiety is mediated by fear of negative evaluation, and (2) whether the relationship between avoidant attachment and social anxiety is mediated by fear of positive evaluation. The study was conducted with 371 undergraduate student participants, and the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (LSAS), the Experiences in Close Relationships Inventory-II (ECR-II), the Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale-Short Form (FNES-SF), and the Fear of Positive Evaluation Scale (FPES) were used. The mediation hypotheses were tested by following the steps of Baron and Kenny. Mediation analysis revealed that the fear of negative evaluation played a significant partial mediator role in the relationship between anxious attachment and social anxiety, and the fear of positive evaluation played a significant partial mediator role in the relationship between avoidant attachment and social anxiety. The mediation roles remained statistically significant even when other fear of evaluation was controlled for. It was observed that both attachment patterns and fears of evaluation variables were positively and significantly unique predictors of social anxiety. These findings may help to explain the significant relationship between avoidant attachment and social anxiety, which is inconsistent with current theoretical expectations, in a new theoretical framework. In addition, these results show that cognitive factors such as fears of evaluation can mediate the relationship between social anxiety and attachment patterns, which are assumed to be formed as a result of early attachment experiences. Specifying these cognitive mediators may also mean identifying variables that could be addressed in cognitive therapy while being related to early attachment experiences and attachment patterns.