Social Anxiety and Resilience: Associations Vary by Country and Sex

Social anxiety affects millions worldwide and is increasing in prevalence. Resilience factors may be important for managing social anxiety, but currently, our understanding of the relationship between resilience and social anxiety is limited. In this study, we explored associations between social anxiety and two forms of resilience (psychological and social-ecological resilience) through secondary analyses of survey responses from 5880 young people (M = 22.82 years old, SD = 3.95) from seven different countries (Brazil, China, Indonesia, Russia, Thailand, the USA, Vietnam). Social anxiety was measured using the Social Anxiety Interaction Scale and resilience through the Adult Resilience Measure-Revised and the Rugged Resilience Measure. The results indicated that psychological resilience was negatively correlated with social anxiety in males and females in most country contexts, while the association between social-ecological resilience and social anxiety was less consistent across countries. A moderation analysis revealed that interactions between the forms of resilience predicting lower social anxiety were found in males from Brazil, Indonesia, the USA, and Vietnam. These findings indicate the importance of dynamic models of resilience which take account of cultural differences in the context of social anxiety.