Abstract

In order to investigate psychological mechanism associated with the development of social anxiety, a total of 1362 children and adolescents(765 boys and 606 girls; 407 4th-5th graders, 556 7th-8th graders and 399 10th-11th graders) were given self report measures of anxiety in interpersonal and performance situations, retrospective account of behavioral inhibition, parental attitude, and traumatic experience in social situations. The results of structural equation modeling indicated that behavioral inhibition and traumatic experience have direct influence on social anxiety but the effects of parental attitude on social anxiety appears to be primarily mediated through the correlation with behavioral inhibition and traumatic experience. Strength of the direct path from behavioral inhibition to social anxiety decreased with age while the opposite was true of the path from traumatic experience. Similarly, the direct path form behavioral inhibition was stronger for girls compared to boys, while the opposite was true of the traumatic experience factor. Methodological limitations and clinical implications of the present study were discussed.