Family Cohesion and Adaptability as Factors in the Aetiology of Social Anxiety

SynopsisFamily adaptability concerns the extent to which a family system is flexible and able to change, and family cohesion refers to the degree to which family members are connected to the family system. Excessive rigidity and enmeshment have been shown to be detrimental to family functioning and are hypothesised to be factors contributing to the development of social anxiety. Self-report data from a sample of socially anxious Australian university students confirm this hypothesis. The findings indicate that counselling with socially anxious persons could usefully involve work with attitudes associated with sex-role stereotyping, emotional bonding and independence. These areas for work could complement the more general treatment programs which focus upon skills training and anxiety reduction in social situations.