(PS9-A12) The Indirect Role of Emotion Regulation Difficulties in the Association Between Social Anxiety and Engagement in Risky Behaviors

Background: Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is a prevalent, chronic disorder that affects a wide variety of domains such as work, school, and leisure (Cairney et al., 2007). Typically, SAD presents as behavioral avoidance due to fear of negative evaluation; however, a growing body of research has identified a subset of SAD that is not characterized by inhibition, but rather, has high novelty-seeking behaviors (Kashdan et al., 2008). This subset has been associated with increased anger, impulsivity, and substance use behaviors (Kashdan et al., 2009; 2010). One potential mechanism that may account for engagement in these behaviors among socially anxious individuals is emotion dysregulation. Emotion regulation (ER) is the modulation of one’s emotions, ability to use strategies to engage in goal-directed behavior, and refrain from engaging in impulsive behaviors when experiencing negative emotions (Gratz & Roemer, 2004). The aim of this study was to investigate the associations between SAD, emotion dysregulation, and risk-taking behaviors among college students – a particularly relevant sample given the high rates of social anxiety (Nordstrom et al., 2014) and risky behaviors (McGuinness & Ahern, 2009). We hypothesized that SAD symptoms would be indirectly associated with higher engagement in risky behaviors (self-report, behavioral task) through emotion dysregulation.  

Methods: The present study included 179 participants (Mage = 19.03 years; SD = 2.95) who screened positive for SAD. Participants completed the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART; Lejuez et al., 2002) and self-report measures of social anxiety (SPIN), ability to regulate emotions, and refrain from impulsive behaviors when experiencing negative affect (DERS-Impulse), and risky behaviors (RISQ). 

Results: Hayes PROCESS macro was used to compute the regression models and estimate the indirect effect of ER difficulties. SAD was significantly associated with DERS-Impulse (a path; b = .12, SE=.03, p < .001) and DERS-Impulse was significantly associated with greater engagement in risky behaviors (b path; b = .19, SE=.07, p =.005). Results supported a significant indirect pathway from SAD to risky behaviors via DERS-Impulse difficulties (b = .02, SE=.01, 95% CI [.005, .04]). Mediation analyses examining behavioral outcomes of risk behaviors will also be conducted and reported (data collected, but not available at the time of submission). 

Conclusions: Overall, results demonstrate that impulse-related ER difficulties among those with SAD may contribute to greater engagement in risky behaviors. These results extend prior work illustrating SAD symptoms are positively associated with emotion-driven impulse control difficulties (Dixon et al., 2016). Prior work has shown ER abilities decrease risky behaviors (Houck et al., 2016), and importantly, have been connected with better mental health functioning during the pandemic among adolescents with externalizing disorders (Breaux et al., 2021). Thus, the findings suggest that increasing ER skills in treatment may have implications for reducing risky behaviors in those with SAD.