(PS2-49) The Impact of Bivalent Fears of Evaluation on Interpersonal Rejection Sensitivity and Social Anxiety

Interpersonal sensitivity (IPS) refers to personal perceptions of and responses to social cues that could convey rejection by others (Boyce & Parker, 1989). IPS spans several domains, including interpersonal awareness (IA; i.e., the interpersonal impact that one may have on others), need for approval (NA; i.e., desire to be in good favor of others), separation anxiety (SA; i.e., sensitivity to breaking relationship bonds), timidity (T; i.e., behavioral lack of assertiveness), and fragile inner-self (FI; i.e., unstable self-esteem) (Boyce & Parker, 1989). IPS and its subfactors also have been proposed to predict internalizing psychopathology, particularly when concerns involve social endeavors (Harb et al., 2002; Wilhelm et al., 2004). For example, past work suggests that IPS may be a core feature of generalized social anxiety and associated measures can be sensitive to social anxiety concerns (Harb et al., 2002; Liebowitz et al., 1985). Moreover, some work suggests that measures of IPS may be strongly correlated with social anxiety concerns, such as fears of negative evaluation (Boyce & Parker, 1989; Harb et al., 2002). However, recent updates to conceptualizations of social anxiety propose that bivalent fears of evaluation may contribute to impairments (Weeks & Howell, 2012). Yet, there is a lack of literature assessing the role that both positive and negative fears of evaluation may play in IPS and social anxiety. The present exploratory analyses aimed to replicate existing work documenting the relationships between facets of IPS and social anxiety concerns (e.g., Harb et al., 2002) and extend literature by examining the contributions of bivalent fears of evaluation.

A sample of 63 undergraduates (M=20.32 years old, SD=2.73; 73.0% female; 76.2% White; 90.5% No Latin or Hispanic Origin) completed surveys within a larger electrophysiological study. On average, participants reported non-elevated levels of social anxiety (M=29.62, SD=15.75). Mediations using Process Model 4 were computed and included scores from the following: Total and subscale (IA, NA, SA, T, and FI) responses on the Interpersonal Sensitivity Measure (IPSM; Boyce et al., 1989); the Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (SIAS; Mattick & Clarke, 1998); the Brief Fear of Negative Evaluation scale (BFNE; Leary, 1983); and the Fear of Positive Evaluation Scale (FPES; Weeks et al., 2008). Results indicated that the BFNE fully mediated the relationships between the NA and T with the SIAS, as well as partially mediated the relationship between the FI and the SIAS. Results indicated that the FPES partially mediated the relationships between the IPSM, IA, SA, and FI with the SIAS.
In line with past work, bivalent fears of evaluation may differentially mediate the relationship between IPS and social anxiety. This is salient given updates to social anxiety models suggesting there is heterogeneity in profiles of social anxiety concerns (e.g., Wong & Rapee, 2016) that may in part stem from differences in perceptions of threat associated with different types of social evaluation. Future work should utilize experimental paradigms to assess the impacts of fears of evaluation on interpersonal sensitivity in a larger sample with elevated social anxiety.