Defense Mechanisms, Impaired Emotion Regulation and Intolerance of Uncertainty in Students with and without Social Anxiety: A Comparative Study

The present study aimed to compare defense mechanisms, impaired emotion regulation and intolerance of uncertainty in students with and without social anxiety. The research method was causal-comparative and statistical population included all students of the Islamic Azad University of Bandar Abbas (Iran). Participants were 120 people (60 students with symptoms of social anxiety disorder and 60 normal students) were selected by simple random sampling. The research instruments included: Social Anxiety Disorder, Defense Styles, Scale of Difficulty in Emotion Regulation, and Intolerance of Uncertainty. Data were analyzed Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA). The results indicated that there was a significant difference between two groups in the dimensions of defense mechanisms (developed defense style, immature defense style, and neurotic defense style) (F=6.86, p ≤ 0.05). Also, according to results there was a significant difference between two groups in emotion regulation disorders and their components (rejection of emotional responses, difficulty in performing purposeful behavior, difficulty in controlling impulse, lack of emotional awareness, limited access to emotional regulation strategies, and lack of emotional clarity). In contrast to the average dimension (difficulty in controlling impulse) in normal students is more than students with social anxiety (F=15.86, P ≤ 0.05). According to our results students with symptoms of social anxiety have more stress of uncertainty, negativity of unexpected events, avoidance, and uncertainty about the future compare to normal students.