SOCIAL ANXIETY, DEPRESSION, AND DISTORTED COGNITIONS IN COLLEGE-STUDENTS

Beck, Hammen, and other researchers have proposed that depressed individuals have cognitions that overemphasize negative information, thereby perpetuating and/or increasing depressed mood. Commonalities have been reported between depressed and socially anxious subjects on distorted cognitions (i.e., irrational beliefs and attributional patterns). Our present research examines Beck's model of depression, as evaluated by the Cognitive Distortion Questionnaire, to determine-whether socially anxious subjects manifest cognitive distortions similar to depressives. One hundred fourteen (114) college students completed questionnaires assessing social avoidance and distress, fear of negative evaluation, depression, trait anxiety, and cognitive distortion. Responses to the Cognitive Distortion Questionnaire were analyzed by repeated measures ANOVAs and ANCOVAs (using depression and trait anxiety as covariates) for subjects who scored high, moderate, and low on the measures of social anxiety. The results suggest that cognitive distortions, previously addressed in relation to depression, also are observed in socially anxious individuals. Further, it is speculated that high levels of social anxiety in late adolescence/early adulthood may be a risk factor for the development of depression.