Social anxiety and depressive symptoms mediate instrumentality and maladaptive interpersonal styles

• We test the indirect effect of instrumentality on detachment through social anxiety.
• We test the indirect effect of instrumentality on dependence through social anxiety.
• Social anxiety partially mediates the link between instrumentality and detachment.
• Social anxiety and depressive symptoms suppress the effect of instrumentality on detachment.
• Social anxiety partially mediates the link between instrumentality and dependence.

This study sought to examine the relationships between stereotypically masculine (instrumentality) and feminine (expressiveness) personality traits, social anxiety and depressive symptoms, and three interpersonal styles of relating: destructive overdependence (DO), dysfunctional detachment (DD), and healthy dependence (HD). Based on theories of social anxiety and recent research on social anxiety and close relationships, it is argued that individuals with higher levels of social anxiety would display greater detachment and overdependence in their interpersonal relationships. Students at an Australian university (n = 524) completed a battery of online self-report measures. The findings suggest that low levels of instrumentality are related to social anxiety and depressive symptoms, which both mediate the relationship between instrumentality and the two maladaptive interpersonal styles of relating: DO and DD.