Patterns of social anxiety in Chinese and European Canadian students

• Main Author: Hsu, Lorena
• Language: English
• Published: 2009
• Subjects: Anxiety > Social aspects; Chinese students > Psychology; Canadian students > Psychology
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/15575

Although epidemiological data show that Asians are less often diagnosed with social phobia than are North Americans, North American studies show that Asians self-report higher levels of social anxiety than their European heritage counterparts. The present study examined this apparent discrepancy in an undergraduate sample of: a) students of Chinese heritage born in Hong Kong or Taiwan (N= 65), b) Canadian-born students of Chinese heritage (N= 51), and c) Canadianborn students of European heritage (N= 62). Participants completed a questionnaire battery as well as a face-to-face interview that assessed levels of social anxiety and impairment. Results showed that foreign-born Chinese participants reported significantly greater social anxiety and impairment than students of European heritage in both the questionnaire and interview format. The same general pattern was found among participants who had clinically severe levels of social anxiety.