Testing the Bivalent Fear of Evaluation Model of Social Anxiety: The Relationship between Fear of Positive Evaluation, Social Anxiety, and Perfectionism

The Bivalent Fear of Evaluation (BFOE) model of social anxiety proposes that fear of negative evaluation (FNE) and fear of positive evaluation (FPE) play distinct roles in social anxiety. Research is however lacking in terms of how FPE is related to perfectionism and how these constructs interact to...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Cognitive behaviour therapy 2016-03, Vol.45 (2), p.136-149
Main Authors: Yap, Keong, Gibbs, Amy L., Francis, Andrew J. P., Schuster, Sharynn E.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Anxiety
Anxiety - psychology
Cognitive therapy
Fear - psychology
fear of negative evaluation
Fear of positive evaluation
Female
high standards perfectionism
Humans
Judgment
maladaptive perfectionism
Male
Middle Aged
Models, Psychological
Perfectionism
Phobia, Social - psychology
Shyness
social anxiety
Socialization
Young Adult
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Summary:The Bivalent Fear of Evaluation (BFOE) model of social anxiety proposes that fear of negative evaluation (FNE) and fear of positive evaluation (FPE) play distinct roles in social anxiety. Research is however lacking in terms of how FPE is related to perfectionism and how these constructs interact to predict social anxiety. Participants were 382 individuals from the general community and included an oversampling of individuals with social anxiety. Measures of FPE, FNE, perfectionism, and social anxiety were administered. Results were mostly consistent with the predictions made by the BFOE model and showed that accounting for confounding variables, FPE correlated negatively with high standards but positively with maladaptive perfectionism. FNE was also positively correlated with maladaptive perfectionism, but there was no significant relationship between FNE and high standards. Also consistent with BFOE model, both FNE and FPE significantly moderated the relationship between maladaptive perfectionism and social anxiety with the relationship strengthened at high levels of FPE and FNE. These findings provide additional support for the BFOE model and implications are discussed.
ISSN:1650-6073
1651-2316
DOI:10.1080/16506073.2015.1125941