Gender factors of social anxiety in adolescence

Abstract

Social anxiety in adolescence is one of the most important factors of social and psychological maladjustment. The data of Russian and international research of the differences in the severity of social anxiety in boys and girls is not uniform. In a study conducted by the authors, participants were 183 adolescents aged 12-16 years (90 boys and 93 girls), students of VII-X grades. We measured the level of social anxiety and defined the type of gender identity. The results showed that biological sex does not influence the severity of social anxiety: there were no differences in this indicator between boys and girls. The factor influencing the level of social anxiety was gender identity, and gender identity types (masculinity, femininity, androgyny) have approximately the same distributions in both boys and girls. The level of social anxiety shows inversed connection with level of masculinity in adolescents of both sexes and direct connection with femininity index. The magnitude of the gap between the real and the ideal of masculinity of the Self is more pronounced in adolescents with social anxiety disorder.

Keywords

• social anxiety
• shyness
• gender identity
• masculinity
• femininity
• androgyny