Developing a Pathological Model of Social Anxiety Based on Attachment Styles, Mentalization Capacity, and Ego Strength Among Adolescents in Qazvin: A Path Analysis Approach

Abstract

Background: Numerous factors contribute to adolescents’ experience of social anxiety, in which attachment styles and psychological functions, such as ego strength and mentalization, play a significant role. Objectives: The present study aimed to develop a model of social anxiety based on attachment styles, mentalization capacity, and ego strength among adolescent students in the city of Qazvin. Methods: The present study employs a correlational research design. The study population consisted of adolescent students in the city of Qazvin, who were selected through a multi-stage stratified sampling method. The sample size, calculated using Cochran’s formula, was determined to be 380. After attrition, the final sample comprised 152 female and 165 male students. Data were collected using Connor’s Social Phobia Inventory (SPI), Hazan and Shaver’s Adult Attachment Questionnaire (AAQ), Markstrom et al.’s Psychological Inventory of Ego Strength (PIES), and Fonagy and Luyten’s Reflective Function Questionnaire (RFQ). Path analysis was employed for data analysis. Results: Two models were obtained using path analysis. In the original model, the fit indices were not appropriate. The paths of secure attachment style to ego positively and uncertainty negatively, avoidant style to social anxiety positively, ambivalent style to certainty positively, uncertainty negatively, ego strength negatively and social anxiety positively, and ego strength to social anxiety negatively and uncertainty positively were significant. However, the paths between avoidant and secure attachment styles, avoidant attachment style and ego strength, ego strength and mentalization (certainty dimension), mentalization (uncertainty dimension) and social anxiety, and mentalization (certainty dimension) and social anxiety were not significant. Therefore, these paths were removed, and a second model was implemented. The fit indices for the second model were as follows: CMIN/DF = 2.15, GFI = 0.975, AGFI = 0.923, CFI = 0.963, RMSEA = 0.074, AIC = 58.60, BIC = 121.19. Conclusions: Based on the findings of this research, it can be concluded that attachment styles, by influencing the formation of defense mechanisms and the development of mentalization capacity, can contribute to the development of social anxiety. In this context, ego strength directly mediates the relationship between attachment styles and social anxiety, while mentalization capacity indirectly affects social anxiety.