Multimodal Assessment of Social Anxiety Disorder among International Students

Csongor István Szepesi, László Róbert Kolozsvári

Keywords: Social Anxiety Disorder, Eye-tracking

Background:

Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) presently stands as the third most prevalent psychiatric disorder. Its impact is far-reaching, exerting adverse effects on various domains of life and diminishing overall mood and well-being.

Research questions:

The study was conducted at the University of Debrecen in Hungary by the Mental Health Research group. In the study we examined Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) through the utilization of multiple measures and experimental paradigms.

Method:

Participants were categorized using the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale with a threshold of 30 points. The Facial Test assessed emotional facial recognition, with the Face Reader 8 software and eye-tracking technology was used to examine visual attention biases during emotion identification. The Social Cognitions Questionnaire was administered to investigate the relationship between biases and SAD.

Results:

Results revealed no gender-based differences in SAD, but Asian participants scored significantly higher on the anxiety scale compared to non-Asians, challenging assumptions about lower Asian social anxiety scores and highlighting cultural influences.
Emotion recognition showed no significant differences between SAD and control groups. Gaze pattern analysis revealed that females focused more on eyes, aligning with gender-based emotion recognition differences.
Contrary to previous findings individuals with higher social phobia scores did not show hypervigilance toward threatening stimuli but exhibited avoidance towards them, including delayed gaze, fewer and shorter fixations, and reduced gazes directed at the eyes.
Both the SAD and the control group exhibited maladaptive schemas related to performance and visible signs of anxiety. Men and Asian participants showed higher belief in these schemas.

Conclusions:

Our results are challenging assumptions about the low susceptibility of SAD in men and Asian populations. SAD, the third most prevalent psychiatric disorder, is given little attention in the general practice. We hope our study is going to bring light to this problem, and in the future provide general practitioners with innovative tools for diagnosis.

Points for discussion:

Cultural Differences in Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD)

Gaze Patterns and Emotional Recognition in SAD

Gender Differences in Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD)

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