SOCIAL ANXIETY AND PEER RELATIONS AMONG ADOLESCENTS - TESTING A PSYCHOBIOLOGICAL MODEL

This study tested hypotheses derived from Trower and Gilbert's (1989) model of social anxiety. Participants were 1,179 students (594 males a nd 585 females) in grades 6, 7, 8, 9, and 11. Participants completed t he Social Anxiety Scale for Adolescents and a sociometric nomination t ask. Nominations from the following behavioral descriptors: most coope rative, class leader, fights the most, and easiest to push around, wer e used to classify students into four peer nomination groups (i.e., co operative, friendly dominant, hostile dominant, and submissive). Resul ts indicated that students classified as submissive reported greater s ocial anxiety than those classified as cooperative, friendly dominant, and hostile dominant. Implications of these results for further study of the Trower and Gilbert (1989) model of social anxiety are discusse d. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd.