B4217 - Investigating the direction and magnitude of association between social anxiety at age 18 and romantic relationship satisfaction - 21/12/2022
Social anxiety is characterised by avoidance of social situations and excessive fear of embarrassment. It can interfere with a person’s social life in a major way. People struggling with social anxiety report the feelings of nervousness while interacting with people of opposite gender for the first time and are judged as less likeable after the initial contact. They can also be seen as shy or withdrawn in a social setting, potentially disrupting their chances at initiating a conversation with a potential partner. All those traits can therefore make it difficult to enter a romantic relationship. Once they enter a romantic relationship, these traits might show a smaller or null effect on their relationship satisfaction, as the familiarity and closeness with their partner would make them less likely to struggle; however, all the traits characterising social anxiety may still negatively impact the relationship. To answer the question of whether social anxiety traits impact adult romantic relationships, the current study will investigate the effects of social phobia at age 17.5 on the participant’s satisfaction with their romantic relationship at 25.