Gender and Age Differences in Social Anxiety in Adolescents

the development of cognitive and behavioral dimensions of social anxiety during adolescence was studied. Using multi- stage random sampling method, 276 female and 224 male students in Tehran were selected from three age groups of 12-13 years, 14-15 years and 16-17 years old and were administered the Social Anxiety Scale for Adolescents (Puklek, 1997). Resu- lts of MANOVA suggested that 12-13 years old adolescents had higher means in the cognitive and behavioral dimensions of social anxiety than the other two age groups. Females had higher means in the behavioral dimension of social anxiety in all three age groups, whereas there were no gender differences in the cognitive dimenstion of social anxiety. Findings are discus- sed based on Elkind's socio-cognitive perspective and the effect of gender on socialization.