The heterogeneity of social anxiety symptoms among Chinese adolescents: Results of latent profile analysis

Background: The main objective of the current study was to investigate the symptoms of social anxiety in Chinese adolescents by conducing latent profile analysis (LPA), a person-centered statistical approach, with items from the Social Anxiety Scale for Adolescents (SAS-A). Method: In total, a sample of 2,755 adolescents aged 11-19 years were recruited from six urban public schools in the Beijing District and Sichuan Province, China. Latent profile analysis, regression mixture modelling, and multinomial logistical regression were adopted to investigate the latent profiles and profiles validity. Results: A four-profile model was suggested as the optimum: low group with diffuse social anxiety, moderate group with difficulties in new situations, moderate group with cognitive disturbance, and high group with diffuse social anxiety. With regression mixture modelling, results showed a greater possibility for older adolescents and girls fall into the high group with diffuse social anxiety. Finally, to examine the validity and interpretability of the social anxiety profiles, two cognitive factors-post-event rumination and self-focused attention-were adopted for their potential to significantly predict the moderate and high group social anxiety profiles. Conclusions: The current study, which was the first effort to investigate the features of social anxiety among Chinese adolescents with LPA, supports an innovative model of social anxiety symptoms in a large, non-Western sample. Limitations and clinical implications are included.