Feeling connected, feeling less anxious: Self-esteem, social connectedness, and social anxiety in adults

How individuals evaluate themselves and to what extent social ties play an important role in their lives may show differences across cultures. The present study examined whether social connectedness mediated the relationship between self-esteem and social anxiety symptoms, controlling for anxiety disorder diagnosis, gender, and age in a Turkish sample, who reflect combination of both individualistic and collectivistic cultural characteristics. A sample of 402 adults (78.1% female, 21.9% male), aged 18 to 65 years (M = 28.72, SD = 8.07), participated in the study. Correlational analyses revealed that self-esteem was negatively associated with social anxiety and positively associated with social connectedness. Social connectedness was also negatively associated with social anxiety. Mediation analyses indicated that self-esteem significantly predicted both social connectedness (b = 0.96, p < .001) and social anxiety (b = −1.41, p < .001). Additionally, social connectedness significantly predicted lower social anxiety (b = −0.56, p < .001). Social connectedness partially mediated the relationship between self-esteem and social anxiety, as shown by a significant indirect effect (b = −0.54, 95% CI [−0.78, −0.32]). Together, self-esteem and social connectedness accounted for 32% of the variance in social anxiety symptoms. These findings underscore the importance of interventions aimed at enhancing both self-esteem and social connectedness to reduce social anxiety, with implications for psychological counseling and mental health services.