The impact of self-construals on social anxiety: a gender-specific interaction

Ninety-seven American-born, Caucasian participants completed self-report questionnaires in a study examining the impact of gender, gender role orientation and independent and interdependent self-construals upon social anxiety. Three significant findings emerged: gender membership did not predict social anxiety severity, identification with a traditionally masculine gender role orientation decreased risk for social anxiety, and self-construals predicted levels of social anxiety differentially in men and women. In men, interdependence and independence predicted levels of social anxiety positively and negatively, respectively, while these patterns of association were reversed in women. Implications of the results are discussed in terms of the role of gender-specific cultural expectations and self-discrepancies in social anxiety.