Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-94fs2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T03:05:23.820Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Are Positive Beliefs about Post-Event Processing Related to Social Anxiety?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 March 2013

Brian Fisak Jr.  and
Amanda N. Hammond
Brian Fisak Jr.*
Affiliation:
University of North Florida, Jacksonville, Florida, USA
Amanda N. Hammond
Affiliation:
University of North Florida, Jacksonville, Florida, USA
*
Address for correspondence: Brian Fisak, Jr., Department of Psychology, University of North Florida, 1 UNF Drive, Jacksonville, FL, 32225, USA. Email: [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

Although positive metacognitive beliefs have been found to be associated with symptoms of depression and generalised anxiety disorder, surprisingly few studies have focused on the degree to which positive metacognitive beliefs are associated to social phobia symptoms. In response to this limitation, the primary goal of the current study was the development and validation of the Positive Beliefs about Post-Event Processing Questionnaire (PB-PEPQ). It was anticipated that the PB-PEPQ would exhibit adequate psychometric properties. Based on a non-referred sample of 300 undergraduate students, the PB-PEPQ was found to be positively associated with measures of post-event processing and social anxiety symptoms. Further, support was found for the incremental validity of the PB-PEPQ, as the measure predicted variance in social phobia symptoms after controlling for other metacognitive variables, including positive beliefs about worry and positive beliefs about rumination. Overall, the findings may have implications for cognitive models of social phobia. Further, the current findings have possible treatment implications, as individuals with social phobia may benefit from interventions focused on the identification and modification of positive metacognitive beliefs.

Keywords

social phobiasocial anxietymetacognitive beliefspositive beliefspost-event processing
Type
Standard Papers
Information
Behaviour Change , Volume 30 , Issue 1 , April 2013 , pp. 36 - 47
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 2013

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Cartwright-Hatton, S., & Wells, A. (1997). Beliefs about worry and intrusions: The Meta-Cognitions Questionnaire and its correlates. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 11, 279–296.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Clark, D.M. (2001). A cognitive perspective on social phobia. In Crozier, W.R. & Alden, L.E. (Eds.), International handbook of social anxiety: concepts, research and interventions relating to the self and shyness (pp. 405–430). New York: JohnWiley & Sons Ltd.Google Scholar
Clark, D.M., & Wells, A. (1995). A cognitive model of social phobia. In Heimberg, R.G. (Ed.), Social phobia: Diagnosis, assessment, and treatment (pp. 69–93). New York: The Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Conner, K.M., Davidson, J.R.T, Churchill, L.E., Sherwood, A., Weisler, R.H., & Foa, E. (2000). Psychometric properties of the social phobia inventory (SPIN). British Journal of Psychiatry, 176, 379–386. doi:10.1192/bjp.176.4.379.Google Scholar
Dannahy, L., & Stopa, L. (2007). Post-event processing in social anxiety. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 45 (6), 1207–1219. doi:10.1016/j.brat.2006.08.017Google Scholar
Fehm, L., Schneider, G., & Hoyer, J. (2007). Is post-event processing specific for social anxiety? Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 38, 11–22. doi:10.1016/j.jbtep.2006.02.004CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Heinrichs, N., & Hofmann, S.G. (2001). Information processing in social phobia: A critical review. Clinical Psychology Review, 21, 751–770. doi:10.1016/S0272-7358(00)00067-2Google Scholar
Kocovski, N.L., Endler, N.S., Rector, N.A., & Flett, G.L. (2005). Ruminative coping and post-event processing in social anxiety. Behavior Research and Therapy, 43, 971–984. doi:10.1016/j.brat.2004.06.015Google Scholar
McEnvoy, P.M., & Kingsep, P. (2006). The post-event processing questionnaire in a clinical sample with social phobia. Behavior Research and Therapy, 44, 1689–1697. doi:10.1016/j.brat.2005.12.005.Google Scholar
McEnvoy, P.M., Mahoney, A., & Moulds, M.L. (2010). Are worry, rumination, and post-event processing one and the same? Development of the repetitive thinking questionnaire. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 24, 509–519. doi:10.1016/j.janxdis.2010.03.008Google Scholar
McEnvoy, P.M., Mahoney, A., Perini, S.J., & Kingsep, P. (2009). Changes in post event processing and metacognitions during cognitive behavioral therapy for social phobia. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 23, 617–623. doi:10.1016/j.janxdis.2009.01.011Google Scholar
Nolen-Hoeksema, S. (1991). Responses to depression and their effects on the duration of depressive episodes. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 100, 569–582.Google Scholar
Papageorgiou, C., & Wells, A. (2001). Positive beliefs about depressive rumination: Development and preliminary validation of a self-report scale. Behavior Therapy, 32, 13–26. doi:005-7894/01/0013~02651.Google Scholar
Papageorgiou, C., & Wells, A. (2003). An empirical test of a clinical metacognitive model of rumination and depression. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 27, 261–273.Google Scholar
Rachman, S., Gruter-Andrew, J., & Shafran, R. (2000). Post-event processing in social anxiety. Behavior Research and Therapy, 38, 611–617.Google Scholar
Roelofs, J., Huibers, M., Peeters, F., Arntz, A., & van Os, J. (2010). Positive and negative beliefs about depressive rumination: A psychometric evaluation of two self-report scales and a test of a clinical metacognitive model of rumination and depression. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 34, 196–205. doi:10.1007/s10608-009-9244-zGoogle Scholar
Wells, A. (1995). Meta-cognition and worry: A cognitive model of generalized anxiety disorder. Behavioral and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 23, 301–320.Google Scholar
Wells, A. (2005). The metacognitive model of GAD: Assessment of meta-worry and relationship with DSM-IV generalized anxiety disorder. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 29, 107–121. doi:10.1007/s10608-005-1652-0.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wells, A. (2006a). The metacognitive model of worry and generalised anxiety disorder. In Davey, G.L., & Wells, A. (Eds.), Worry and its psychological disorders: Theory, assessment and treatment (pp. 179–199). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Publishing.Google Scholar
Wells, A. (2006b). Metacognitive therapy for worry and generalised anxiety disorder. In Davey, G.L. & Wells, A. (Eds.), Worry and its psychological disorders: Theory, assessment and treatment (pp. 259–272). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Publishing.Google Scholar
Wells, A., & Cartwright-Hatton, S. (2004). A short form of the Metacognitions Questionnaire: Properties of the MCQ-30. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 42, 385–396. doi:10.1016/S0005-7967(03)00147-5.Google Scholar
Wells, A., Fisher, P., Myers, S., Wheatley, J., Patel, T., & Brewin, C. R. (2012). Metacognitive therapy in treatment-resistant depression: A platform trial. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 50 (6), 367–373. doi:10.1016/j.brat.2012.02.004Google Scholar
Wong, Q.J., & Moulds, M.L. (2010). Do socially anxious individuals hold positive metacognitive beliefs about rumination? Behavior Change, 27, 69–83. doi:10.1375/bech.27.2.69Google Scholar
Wong, Q.J., & Moulds, M.L. (2012). Does rumination predict the strength of maladaptive self-beliefs characteristic of social anxiety over time? Cognitive Therapy and Research, 36 (1), 94–102. doi:10.1007/s10608-010-9316-0Google Scholar