Mediators of the relationship between social anxiety and post-event rumination

A variety of cognitive and attentional factors are hypothesised to be associated with post-event rumination, a key construct that has been proposed to contribute to the maintenance of social anxiety disorder (SAD). The present study aimed to explore factors contributing to post-event rumination following delivery of a speech in a clinical population. 121 participants with SAD completed measures of trait social anxiety a week before they undertook a speech task. After the speech, participants answered several questionnaires assessing their state anxiety, self-evaluation of performance, perceived focus of attention and probability and cost of expected negative evaluation. One-week later, participants completed measures of negative rumination experienced over the week. Results showed two pathways leading to post-event rumination: (1) a direct path from trait social anxiety to post-event rumination and (2) indirect paths from trait social anxiety to post-event rumination via its relationships with inappropriate attentional focus and self-evaluation of performance. The results suggest that post event rumination is at least partly predicted by the extent to which socially anxious individuals negatively perceive their own performance and their allocation of attentional resources to this negative self-image. Current findings support the key relationships among cognitive processes proposed by cognitive models.

► We examined factors contributing to post-event rumination following a speech task in a clinical population with social anxiety disorder using path analysis methods.
► A direct path from trait social anxiety to post-event rumination was observed.
► Indirect paths from trait social anxiety to post-event rumination via its relationships with inappropriate attentional focus and self-evaluation of performance were also obtained.
► The results support cognitive models of the relationships and interactions between cognitive processes proposed to maintain negative rumination in social phobia.