Interpersonal communication anxiety in adolescents: scale development and the mediating role of cognitive flexibility in the relationship between perfectionism and anxiety

The present study was planned in two stages. The initial stage entailed the development of an interpersonal communication anxiety scale for adolescents. The subsequent stage involved an examination of the mediating role of cognitive flexibility in the effect of perfectionism on interpersonal communication anxiety in adolescents. In order to achieve the aforementioned objectives, data were collected from a total of 1,643 adolescents (829 girls, 814 boys; age, [Formula: see text]= 14.8) aged between 12 and 17 years for both studies. In the first stage of the study, data was collected from 1029 adolescents (519 girls, 510 boys; age, [Formula: see text]=14.9) attending schools in four different residential areas. In the second stage, data obtained from 614 adolescents (age, [Formula: see text]=14.6), comprising 310 girls (age, [Formula: see text]=14.4) and 304 boys (age, [Formula: see text]=14.8), who were different from those in the first stage, were analyzed. In the first stage of the study, the Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) of the Interpersonal Communication Anxiety Scale revealed that the 12-item single factor explained 69.22% of the total variance. The results of the Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) demonstrated that the model exhibited excellent or good fit, and the model fit values were again excellent in terms of measurement invariance by gender. The internal reliability Cronbach's Alpha coefficient was 0.96. In this respect, it was determined that the Interpersonal Communication Anxiety Scale is a valid and reliable measurement tool for adolescents in Turkish culture, with no variation according to gender. In the second stage of the study, when cognitive flexibility and self-directed perfectionism acted as mediators between adolescents' interpersonal communication anxiety, the total effect coefficient was significantly reduced (- 0.12; 0.02). In a similar manner, when cognitive flexibility mediated the relationship between socially prescribed perfectionism and interpersonal communication anxiety, the total effect coefficient was found to decrease significantly (- 0.12; 0.00). Consequently, it has been determined that cognitive flexibility in adolescents serves as a pivotal mediating factor between self-oriented perfectionism, socially prescribed perfectionism, and interpersonal communication anxiety.