An Investigation of Anxiety Sensitivity, Meta-Worry and Components of Emotion Regulation in Students with and without Social Anxiety

Anxiety sensitivity, meta-worry and emotion regulation are critical psychological components involved in social anxiety disorder. The present paper seeks to study anxiety sensitivity, meta-worry and components of emotion regulation in students with and without social anxiety disorder.This paper presents the ex post facto research design (causal-comparative method). The sample included 92 patients (46 patients with social anxiety disorder and 46 normal people). Data was collected using Wells anxiety thoughts, Gross and John emotion regulation, and Reiss and Peterson anxiety sensitivity index. They were also analyzed through MANOVA.The results showed that there were significant differences between groups of students with and without social anxiety disorder in anxiety sensitivity, meta-worry and reappraisal. In other words, students with social anxiety disorder experience more anxiety sensitivity and meta-worry and less reappraisal than the control group. Also, there was no significant difference between groups in terms of suppression.The anxiety sensitivity, meta-worry and reappraisal are psychological structures which play a significant role in the development of social anxiety disorder and can lead to persistence of its symptoms