Social anxiety among Chinese people

Abstract

Social anxiety has been widely investigated as a universal emotion, but it might have different meanings, experiences, and manifestations in different cultures. The present study aims to investigate if social anxiety has some special characteristics in the Chinese cultures; if there exist culture specific constructs or dimensions underlying Chinese social anxiety experiences and if new dimensions function the same as the known factors in Western cultures. The results showed a new Chinese specific factor in social anxiety, and the new factor functions the same as the other factors when considering their relations with social anxiety’s antecedents and consequences (attachment, parenting, behavioural inhibition system/behavioural approach system and attitude toward group). The culturally valid measure from this study captures both the universal content and culture specific elements of social could help to do some diagnosis, prevention, and treatment to Chinese in Chinese cultures.