Please Don’t Compliment Me! Fear of Positive Evaluation and Emotion Regulation—Implications for Adolescents’ Social Anxiety
In recent years, fear of positive evaluation has emerged as one of the key aspects of social anxiety, alongside fear of negative evaluation. Fears of evaluation intensify during adolescence, a time when individuals are expected to navigate new, emotionally challenging situations. The purpose of this...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2022-10-01
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| Series: | Journal of Clinical Medicine |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0383/11/20/5979 |
| _version_ | 1797472531862519808 |
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| author | Achilleas Tsarpalis-Fragkoulidis Rahel Lea van Eickels Martina Zemp |
| author_facet | Achilleas Tsarpalis-Fragkoulidis Rahel Lea van Eickels Martina Zemp |
| author_sort | Achilleas Tsarpalis-Fragkoulidis |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In recent years, fear of positive evaluation has emerged as one of the key aspects of social anxiety, alongside fear of negative evaluation. Fears of evaluation intensify during adolescence, a time when individuals are expected to navigate new, emotionally challenging situations. The purpose of this study was to examine the associations between social anxiety, fear of positive and negative evaluation, and three emotion regulation strategies relevant to social anxiety, i.e., suppression, acceptance, and rumination. To this end, data were collected from 647 adolescents via an online survey and analyzed using structural equation modeling. We found that fear of negative evaluation was significantly related to rumination, whereas fear of positive evaluation was significantly and negatively related to acceptance. We further found an indirect effect of social anxiety on suppression via fear of positive evaluation and acceptance in a serial mediation and an indirect effect of social anxiety on rumination via fear of negative evaluation. Not only do fears of positive and negative evaluation appear to be distinct constructs, but they are also differentially associated with three emotion regulation strategies pertinent to social anxiety. Fear of evaluation and its associations with emotion regulation deficits might hinder the therapeutic process by acting as a deterrent to positive reinforcement or potentially impeding the development of a successful therapeutic alliance. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T20:03:00Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-87bd16b60d924191889642a61347fd29 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2077-0383 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T20:03:00Z |
| publishDate | 2022-10-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Clinical Medicine |
| spelling | doaj.art-87bd16b60d924191889642a61347fd292023-11-24T00:39:03ZengMDPI AGJournal of Clinical Medicine2077-03832022-10-011120597910.3390/jcm11205979Please Don’t Compliment Me! Fear of Positive Evaluation and Emotion Regulation—Implications for Adolescents’ Social AnxietyAchilleas Tsarpalis-Fragkoulidis0Rahel Lea van Eickels1Martina Zemp2Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, University of Vienna, 1010 Vienna, AustriaDepartment of Clinical and Health Psychology, University of Vienna, 1010 Vienna, AustriaDepartment of Clinical and Health Psychology, University of Vienna, 1010 Vienna, AustriaIn recent years, fear of positive evaluation has emerged as one of the key aspects of social anxiety, alongside fear of negative evaluation. Fears of evaluation intensify during adolescence, a time when individuals are expected to navigate new, emotionally challenging situations. The purpose of this study was to examine the associations between social anxiety, fear of positive and negative evaluation, and three emotion regulation strategies relevant to social anxiety, i.e., suppression, acceptance, and rumination. To this end, data were collected from 647 adolescents via an online survey and analyzed using structural equation modeling. We found that fear of negative evaluation was significantly related to rumination, whereas fear of positive evaluation was significantly and negatively related to acceptance. We further found an indirect effect of social anxiety on suppression via fear of positive evaluation and acceptance in a serial mediation and an indirect effect of social anxiety on rumination via fear of negative evaluation. Not only do fears of positive and negative evaluation appear to be distinct constructs, but they are also differentially associated with three emotion regulation strategies pertinent to social anxiety. Fear of evaluation and its associations with emotion regulation deficits might hinder the therapeutic process by acting as a deterrent to positive reinforcement or potentially impeding the development of a successful therapeutic alliance.https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0383/11/20/5979fear of positive evaluationfear of negative evaluationsocial anxietyemotion regulationpositivity impairmentadolescence |
| spellingShingle | Achilleas Tsarpalis-Fragkoulidis Rahel Lea van Eickels Martina Zemp Please Don’t Compliment Me! Fear of Positive Evaluation and Emotion Regulation—Implications for Adolescents’ Social Anxiety Journal of Clinical Medicine fear of positive evaluation fear of negative evaluation social anxiety emotion regulation positivity impairment adolescence |
| title | Please Don’t Compliment Me! Fear of Positive Evaluation and Emotion Regulation—Implications for Adolescents’ Social Anxiety |
| title_full | Please Don’t Compliment Me! Fear of Positive Evaluation and Emotion Regulation—Implications for Adolescents’ Social Anxiety |
| title_fullStr | Please Don’t Compliment Me! Fear of Positive Evaluation and Emotion Regulation—Implications for Adolescents’ Social Anxiety |
| title_full_unstemmed | Please Don’t Compliment Me! Fear of Positive Evaluation and Emotion Regulation—Implications for Adolescents’ Social Anxiety |
| title_short | Please Don’t Compliment Me! Fear of Positive Evaluation and Emotion Regulation—Implications for Adolescents’ Social Anxiety |
| title_sort | please don t compliment me fear of positive evaluation and emotion regulation implications for adolescents social anxiety |
| topic | fear of positive evaluation fear of negative evaluation social anxiety emotion regulation positivity impairment adolescence |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0383/11/20/5979 |
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