The Relationship between subjectively perceived life events and social anxiety among adolescents in Southwest China: the chain mediating effects of fear of negative evaluation and body shame.

Résumé

BACKGROUND: Adolescent negative life events significantly influence social anxiety development. Enhancing accurate self-perception and emotion regulation skills is critical for mitigating such mental health risks.PURPOSE: To investigate relationships among adolescent negative life events, social anxiety, fear of negative evaluation, and body shame, focusing on their serial mediation effects.METHODS: ‌ This study was conducted from November to December 2024. A random sampling method was employed to recruit 900 adolescents aged 13-17 years (M = 14.57 ± 1.18) from urban and rural schools in Southwest China. Self-report questionnaires were administered to assess demographic characteristics, negative life events, fear of negative evaluation, body shame, and social anxiety. Data analysis was performed using IBM SPSS 27.0 and the PROCESS macro (Version 4.1).RESULTS: ‌ Adolescent negative life events showed significant positive correlations with fear of negative evaluation (r = 0.558, p