The Investigation of Social Anxiety Disorder, Depressive Symptoms and Self-Esteem, and its Effects on Autobiographical Memory Retrieval.

The aim of this study was to investigate the coexistence between social anxiety disorder (SAD), depressive symptoms, self-esteem, and its impacts on autobiographical memory (AM). AM can be a significant tool for healthy functioning and self-defeating recalls can cause interference with many cognitive processes. This study investigated the exact prognostic relationships between these factors and measures the degree upon which it influences negative AM recall. It was hypothesized that SAD precedes the onset of depressive symptoms and predicts levels of self-esteem. It was also hypothesized that via both these pathways, SAD could have both a direct and mediated influence on negative AM recall. Two hundred and sixty-seven participants (M = 25.06, SD = 10.11) completed seven online questionnaires assessing social anxiety, social phobia , self-esteem, fear of negative and positive evaluation, depressive symptoms, and levels of positive and negative affect pertaining to AM recall. Participants were instructed to state four most distinct AMs and rated them accordingly. Data was analysed using the Maximum Likelihood Estimation in Structural Equation Modelling via AMOS. In general, the model demonstrated results which partially supported the hypotheses demonstrating that SAD significantly predicted both depressive symptoms and self-esteem. SAD also directly influenced negative AM recall and this was also mediated via self-esteem. Self-esteem predicted depressive symptoms; however, depressive symptoms had no impact on AM recall. The complex overlapping links between these factors are reported to cause poorer treatment outcomes and higher symptom severity. Thus effective recognition and a clearer understanding of these factors would be beneficial for future clinical studies on AM recall in SAD, depression and other psychological disorders