The Effect Of Mindfulness-based Intervention On Social Anxiety In College Students:The Mediating Role Of Intolerance Of Uncertainty And Difficulty In Emotion Regulation

Social anxiety refers to the emotional response and avoidance behavior caused by strong anxiety,nervousness,or fear about certain interpersonal situations.It is more and more common among college students and will evolve into a serious social anxiety disorder without intervention.The disorder usually follows a chronic and relentless course,accompanied by a developmental accumulation of comorbidities and functional role disorders in educational achievement,social/romantic relationships,and employment,which seriously affect the physical and mental health of college students.Researchers have tried a variety of psychological treatments to reduce the burden on people with social anxiety(or social fear),among which mindfulness-related training is a promising form of intervention.Mindfulness is a multi-dimensional structure,which is both a psychological trait and an intervention method.The intolerance of uncertainty or emotion dysregulation may be potential mediators in the relationship between mindfulness and social anxiety,but it is not clear whether there are multiple possible mediators of the relationship between mindfulness and social anxiety.Therefore,based on the investigation of the current situation of social anxiety and mindfulness among contemporary college students,this study sought to explore the role of intolerance of uncertainty and difficulty in emotion regulation in the relationship between mindfulness and social anxiety and to further examine the effect of a mindfulness-based intervention on individual social anxiety,mindfulness,intolerance of uncertainty and difficulty in emotion regulation.In study 1 and Study 2,questionnaires were adopted to preliminarily investigate the status quo of social anxiety and mindfulness of college students according to the self-report scale.A total of 1132 college students filled in the Five-Factor Mindfulness Scale,Social Interaction Anxiety Scale,Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale,and Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale to investigate the role of intolerance of uncertainty and difficulty in emotion regulation in the relationship between mindfulness and social anxiety.In Study 3,80 college students with a high level of social anxiety were selected based on the survey results and randomly assigned to the intervention group and the control group for a quasi-experimental study to explore the influence of mindfulness-based intervention projects on individual social anxiety,mindfulness,intolerance of uncertainty,and difficulty in emotion regulation.The results show that:(1)social anxiety was serious among college students,and there are significant differences in different gender,class leader or not,only child or not,the origin of students,family rearing mode,and the level of parents’ education.(2)The level of mindfulness among college students was at the medium level and showed significant differences in the only child or not,and the origin of students.(3)Mindfulness,social anxiety,and intolerance of uncertainty were associated with difficulty in emotion regulation;mindfulness significantly negatively predicted the level of social anxiety,besides,intolerance of uncertainty and difficulty in emotion regulation play a chain mediating role in the relationship between mindfulness and social anxiety.(4)Mindfulness-based intervention has a significant alleviating effect on the level of individual social anxiety,intolerance of uncertainty,and difficulty in emotion regulation,and the group(intervention group,control group)× time(pre-test,post-test)interaction effect of each study variable was significant.Simple effect analysis showed that the pre-test scores of the intervention group were not significantly different from those of the control group,but the post-test scores were significantly different from those of the control group.There were significant differences between the pre-test and post-test scores of each study variable in the intervention group,but not in the control group.