| Preliminary research suggests that Native American youth may be at an increased risk for problems with anxiety. Social anxiety is the most common type of anxiety experienced by adolescents, yet there is a paucity of research on social anxiety in Native American youth. This is unfortunate given that social anxiety may negatively impact important developmental tasks of adolescence for Native American youth such as ethnic identity development. It is possible that social anxiety might impede social and interpersonal exploration necessary for ethnic identity development, as well as increase the chance for depression and low self-esteem---two factors that may, in turn, deplete an adolescent's confidence to self-initiate ethnic identity exploration.; This study was designed to further the understanding of the complex social ecology of Native American adolescent anxiety symptoms, and to assess the consequences of social anxiety and its correlates in early adolescence for the development of ethnic identity. Eighty-six Lumbee Indian adolescents were assessed for social anxiety, ethnic identity, temperament, and a range of cognitive, affective and interpersonal variables that were expected to relate to both social anxiety and ethic identity. Parents also reported on temperament and social competence. Based on previous research, the hypotheses were that: (1) There would be higher levels of social anxiety in this sample relative to a comparison non-Native sample. (2) Temperamental behavioral inhibition would be significantly associated with social anxiety in adolescence. (3) Social anxiety would be associated with lower levels of ethnic identity, and; (4) The relationship between social anxiety and ethnic identity would be mediated by important cognitive, affective, and interpersonal influences.; Results indicated that, overall, adolescents in this sample reported lower levels of social anxiety than those in a comparison sample of adolescents. However, the Lumbee adolescents did report greater levels of social anxiety specific to new social situations. Furthermore, social anxiety symptoms during adolescence were significantly associated with childhood temperament levels of behavioral inhibition. Social anxiety was also related directly to other concurrent affective and interpersonal indices of psychosocial functioning, however, it was not directly related to ethnic identity exploration during early adolescence. Nor was the relationship between ethnic identity and social anxiety mediated by the other affective and interpersonal variables studied. It appears that, although social anxiety demonstrates an association with temperament in childhood, and with other psychosocial functioning in adolescence, it does not relate to ethnic identity strivings in this sample. Findings are discussed in the context of previous literature and limitations of the current study design. |
