I have recently been reading through a couple of peer-reviewed articles in
my research of the impact that anxiety has on friendships. I have come
across two articles in relation to this and would like to share my findings
with you. In the Social Anxiety, Cortisol, and Early-Stage Friendship article,
the research question they focused on in this study was: how does social
anxiety impact cortisol reactivity, feelings of closeness or desired
closeness during an interaction with a potential new friend? (Ketay et al.,
2019). The sample size of this study included one-hundred sixty-eight
participants (2019). The variables of interest were cortisol levels, self-
disclosure and social anxiety (2019). The statistical tests used included:
intra-class correlation coefficients and a linear regression analysis (2019).
In this study it was concluded that in the high self-disclosure condition,
the individuals who were higher in social anxiety displayed flatter declines
in cortisol than those lower in social anxiety; cortisol declines were not
significantly related to social anxiety in the low self-disclosure condition.
Further, across both conditions, an individual's social anxiety was
associated with decreased levels of closeness and desired closeness
(2019).
In the second article, Social Anxiety Disorder and Social Support Behavior
in Friendships the research question was: what is the relationship between
social anxiety disorder and social support behaviors when it comes to
friendships? (Piccirillo et al., 2021). The sample size for this study was
one-hundred and eighty participants (2021). Variables of interest
included: social anxiety status (Social anxiety disorder, no social anxiety),
depression, and friendship (2021). The statistical tests used in this study
were: Kolmogorov-Smirnov test and Bayesian statistics (2021). It was
concluded that having a Social Anxiety Disorder alone does not correlate
with interpersonal impairment, but Social Anxiety status, depression, and
their interaction significantly impacted positive support behaviors (2021).
In a way, these two articles are contradicting. In the first article, it is
shown that those who have a high level of anxiety can have an impact on
their friendships (Ketay et al.m 2019). Furthermore, it was also shown that
overall, social anxiety has a negative impact on closeness one feels in a
social interaction; which can negatively affect a potential friendship
(2019). In the second article, it was concluded that having social anxiety
alone does not have a direct negative impact on friendships (Piccirillo et
al., 2021).8
8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8References
Ketay, S., Welker, K. M., Beck, L. A., Thorson, K. R., & Slatcher, R. B.
(2019). Social anxiety,
cortisol, and early-stage friendship. Journal of Social and Personal
Relationships, 36(7),
1954–1974. https://doi.org/10.1177/0265407518774915
Piccirillo, M. L., Lim, M. H., Fernandez, K. A., Pasch, L. A., & Rodebaugh, T.
L. (2021). Social
anxiety disorder and social support behavior in friendships. Behavior
Therapy, 52(3),8
720–733. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.beth.2020.09.003
