Revisiting a taxonomy of social anxiety and assertiveness in adolescence: evidence for a cognitive approach

Abstract

This research explored a taxonomy combining social anxiety and assertiveness and further applied a cognitive approach for predicting those constructs in adolescents. Participants were 679 adolescents (mean age = 16.68; 61.3% female) who self-reported on interpersonal assertive schemas, negative automatic social thoughts, social anxiety, and assertive behavior. Social anxiety and assertive behavior were grouping variables in a cluster analysis, resulting in three groups: assertive, indifferent, and socially anxious adolescents. The moderator role of the groups was then studied within a structural equation model proposing both social anxiety and assertive behavior to be predicted by cognitive schemas and automatic thoughts. This model fitted all three groups, portraying assertive behavior as directly predicted by cognitive structures whereas social anxiety was directly dependent on automatic thoughts. Assertive deficit and social anxiety seem to co-occur and fit within a theoretical and practical cognitive approach, demanding careful consideration of specific symptomology in adolescent social anxiety.