Clarifying the dispositional basis of social anxiety: A hierarchical perspective

There has been substantial interest in the personality correlates of social anxiety, both at the higher order and lower order trait levels. We review this literature, focusing particularly on evidence for associations with neuroticism/negative emotionality (N/NE) and its facets; extraversion/positive emotionality (E/PE) and its facets; and several other specific traits (self-critical perfectionism, evaluation sensitivity, anxiety sensitivity, curiosity) with significant links to these domains. These results are interpreted within the larger context of the personality hierarchy whenever possible, so as to determine whether each trait appears to be (1) specifically associated with social anxiety or (2) non-specifically related to social anxiety due to overlap with other traits. We also discuss the specificity of social anxiety–trait relations vis-à-vis depression and other anxiety disorders. This review revealed that higher order E/PE, sociability, dominance, and the social concerns component of anxiety sensitivity are most specific to social anxiety, whereas other traits are shared with other disorders (primarily depression and GAD). Finally, we consider the subtypes of social anxiety (i.e., generalized and performance) and present some evidence for differential trait associations. We discuss the implications of these results for etiological issues, distinguishing social anxiety from depression and GAD, and future research directions in this area.