Coping strategies and anticipatory processing in high and low socially anxious individuals

The purpose of this study was to investigate coping responses associated with anticipatory social anxiety. Participants were presented with vignettes that involved anticipating a stressful social situation and were instructed to record their thoughts and recalled memories to allow for the examination of the content of anticipatory processing. Anticipatory coping and distraction were assessed via self-report. Results indicated that participants high in social anxiety were more likely to engage in mental preparation for stressful events compared to those low in social anxiety. Further, high socially anxious participants reported more planning thoughts about concealing their state of anxiety or avoiding the stressful situation and less planning thoughts about improving their in-situation performance compared to those low in social anxiety. Finally, individuals high in social anxiety produced less positive autobiographical memories and more negative self-evaluative thoughts. No group differences on distraction coping emerged. The theoretical and clinical implications of the results are discussed.