Social Anxiety among Chinese People

The experience of social anxiety has largely been investigated among Western populations; much less is known about social anxiety in other cultures. Unlike the Western culture, the Chinese emphasize interdependence and harmony with social others. In addition, it is unclear if Western constructed ins...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Qianqian Fan, Weining C. Chang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2015-01-01
Series:The Scientific World Journal
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2015/743147
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1849308438676373504
author Qianqian Fan
Weining C. Chang
author_facet Qianqian Fan
Weining C. Chang
author_sort Qianqian Fan
collection DOAJ
description The experience of social anxiety has largely been investigated among Western populations; much less is known about social anxiety in other cultures. Unlike the Western culture, the Chinese emphasize interdependence and harmony with social others. In addition, it is unclear if Western constructed instruments adequately capture culturally conditioned conceptualizations and manifestations of social anxiety that might be specific to the Chinese. The present study employed a sequence of qualitative and quantitative approaches to examine the assessment of social anxiety among the Chinese people. Interviews and focus group discussions with Chinese participants revealed that some items containing the experience of social anxiety among the Chinese are not present in existing Western measures. Factor analysis was employed to examine the factor structure of the more comprehensive scale. This approach revealed an “other concerned anxiety” factor that appears to be specific to the Chinese. Subsequent analysis found that the new factor—other concerned anxiety—functioned the same as other social anxiety factors in their association with risk factors of social anxiety, such as attachment, parenting, behavioral inhibition/activation, and attitude toward group. The implications of these findings for a more culturally sensitive assessment tool of social anxiety among the Chinese were discussed.
format Article
id doaj-art-0afdfe1ccdfd4e17a1cbeee28155e2d2
institution Kabale University
issn 2356-6140
1537-744X
language English
publishDate 2015-01-01
publisher Wiley
record_format Article
series The Scientific World Journal
spelling doaj-art-0afdfe1ccdfd4e17a1cbeee28155e2d22025-08-20T03:54:28ZengWileyThe Scientific World Journal2356-61401537-744X2015-01-01201510.1155/2015/743147743147Social Anxiety among Chinese PeopleQianqian Fan0Weining C. Chang1Division of Psychology, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, 14 Nanyang Drive, 637332, SingaporeDepartment of Clinical Sciences, Graduate School of Medicine, Duke-National University of Singapore, 8 College Road, 169857, SingaporeThe experience of social anxiety has largely been investigated among Western populations; much less is known about social anxiety in other cultures. Unlike the Western culture, the Chinese emphasize interdependence and harmony with social others. In addition, it is unclear if Western constructed instruments adequately capture culturally conditioned conceptualizations and manifestations of social anxiety that might be specific to the Chinese. The present study employed a sequence of qualitative and quantitative approaches to examine the assessment of social anxiety among the Chinese people. Interviews and focus group discussions with Chinese participants revealed that some items containing the experience of social anxiety among the Chinese are not present in existing Western measures. Factor analysis was employed to examine the factor structure of the more comprehensive scale. This approach revealed an “other concerned anxiety” factor that appears to be specific to the Chinese. Subsequent analysis found that the new factor—other concerned anxiety—functioned the same as other social anxiety factors in their association with risk factors of social anxiety, such as attachment, parenting, behavioral inhibition/activation, and attitude toward group. The implications of these findings for a more culturally sensitive assessment tool of social anxiety among the Chinese were discussed.http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2015/743147
spellingShingle Qianqian Fan
Weining C. Chang
Social Anxiety among Chinese People
The Scientific World Journal
title Social Anxiety among Chinese People
title_full Social Anxiety among Chinese People
title_fullStr Social Anxiety among Chinese People
title_full_unstemmed Social Anxiety among Chinese People
title_short Social Anxiety among Chinese People
title_sort social anxiety among chinese people
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2015/743147
work_keys_str_mv AT qianqianfan socialanxietyamongchinesepeople
AT weiningcchang socialanxietyamongchinesepeople