The role of stress reactivity in the long-term persistence of adolescent social anxiety symptoms

Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) symptoms demonstrate a marked persistence over time, but little is known empirically about short-term processes that may account for this long-term persistence. In this study, we examined how self-reported and physiological stress reactivity were associated with persistence of SAD symptoms from early to late adolescence. A community sample of 327 adolescents (56% boys, M-age = 13.01 at T-1) reported their SAD symptoms for 6 successive years and participated in a public speaking task, during which self-reported (i.e., perceived nervousness and heart rate) and physiological (i.e., cortisol and heart rate) measures of stress were taken. Overall, our results point to a developmental process in which adolescents with a developmental history of higher SAD symptoms show both heightened perceived stress reactivity and heart rate reactivity, which, in turn, predict higher SAD symptoms into late adolescence. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.