(PS1-35) Belongingness and Self-focused Attention as Serial Mediators in the Association Between Discrimination and Social Anxiety

Abstract Text: Background
Social anxiety disorder (SAD) causes severe impairment in various life domains and is associated with depression (Fares et al., 2022), difficulties in interpersonal relationships (Tonge et al., 2020), lower educational attainment (Vilaplana-Pérez et al., 2020), and problems with substance use (Soraya et al., 2022). Despite SAD being inherently social in nature, few studies have examined its association with a particularly harmful type of social experience: discrimination. Research that does exist on the relationship between social anxiety and discrimination shows conflicting results (Levine et al., 2014; Martinez et al., 2023). We sought to better understand this relationship through the current study. Given that marginalization may be associated with a lower sense of belonging (Mooney & Becker, 2020; O’Brien et al., 2020) and more self-focused attention (SFA; Mullen, 1983), we hypothesized people experiencing more discrimination would experience decreased feelings of belonging, which would lead them to have more SFA (i.e., attention to internal rather than external stimuli), and thus experience more social anxiety.

Methods
Participants (N = 386) were recruited from a large, urban U.S. university. The mean age was 23.6 (SD = 8.2). Participants reported a wide range of races and ethnicities, with at least 10% of participants reporting each of the the following identities: Asian American, Black, Latine/x, and White. The most common gender endorsed was woman (48.0%). Participants completed the Everyday Discrimination Scale (Williams, 1997), Focus of Attention Questionnaire (Woody et al., 1997), General Belongingness Scale (Malone et al., 2012), and the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (Liebowitz, 1987). A serial mediation was conducted using the PROCESS macro (Hayes, 2013).

Results
Consistent with hypotheses, discrimination had a significant impact on belongingness (b = 0.01, p < .001), belongingness had a unique impact on SFA when accounting for discrimination (b = 0.04, p < .001), belongingness had a unique impact on social anxiety when controlling for SFA and discrimination (b = 1.14, p < 0.001), and SFA had a unique impact on social anxiety when controlling for discrimination and belongingness (b = 10.03, p < .001). Additionally, all three indirect effects were significant. The direct effect of discrimination on social anxiety, when accounting for effects of belongingness and SFA, was not significant (b = -0.001, p = .78), suggesting belongingness and SFA fully mediate the relationship between discrimination and social anxiety. ​

Discussion
This study adds to current research by providing additional evidence of (1) the association between discrimination and social anxiety, and (2) the roles of belongingness and SFA as mediators in that association, suggesting belongingness and SFA fully explain the effect of discrimination on social anxiety. Due to the cross-sectional design, results reflect associations rather than causation. Clinically, results suggest therapists should consider experiences of discrimination, feelings of belonging, and levels of SFA when working with socially anxious clients. Future research should examine mental health impacts of both systemic and interpersonal forms of discrimination.