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).
f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f f References
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),
720–733. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.beth.2020.09.003
