E-ISSN : 2733-4538
Social anxiety and depression are mental health conditions that exhibit a high rate of comorbidity. It has been demonstrated that the co-occurrence of the two conditions is associated with a negative prognosis. As such, it is important to identify conditions under which social anxiety and depression may co-occur. The present study thus examined the mediating effect of disqualification of positive social outcomes on the relationship between social anxiety and depression. This is based on the comorbidity model which suggests that social anxiety acts as a causal risk factor for secondary depression. A total of 147 adults (36 males and 111 females) participated in the study. Bootstrapping procedures were used to test for a mediation effect. The results indicated that social anxiety is indirectly associated with depression through the mediating mechanism of disqualification of positive social outcomes. These findings indicate that socially anxious individuals are more likely to experience difficulties in extracting positive meaning from positive social feedback, which then may lead to the development of depressive symptoms. The implications for the comorbidity between social anxiety and depression are discussed.
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