DIFFERENCES IN PERCEPTIONS OF PARENTAL AND PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS BETWEEN GENERALIZED AND NONGENERALIZED SOCIAL PHOBICS

Perceptions of generalized social phobics, nongeneralized social phobics, and nondisordered controls regarding their parents' childrearing attitudes and their own adolescent experiences were compared. Generalized social phobics perceived one or both parents as having isolated them from others and having promoted less socialization of the family with others compared to other subjects. In contrast to controls, generalized and nongeneralized social phobics perceived their parents as placing undue importance on the opinions of others and as using shame as a means of discipline. Generalized, compared to nongeneralized, social phobics evidenced more pervasive symptoms of shyness (e.g., reported that they were more labeled as shy by others, dated less frequently, etc.) during adolescent years, although the patient groups did not differ in the age of onset of feelings of shyness. Both patient groups were high in public self-consciousness in contrast to controls, who achieved scores comparable to norm groups. Subtype differences remained after controlling for initial level of clinical impairment.