Document Type : Original Article

Author

Associate Professor, Academy of Scientific Studies in Education & Azad University, Research and Science Branch

Abstract

Introduction: Social anxiety which refers to obvious and persistent fear of social situations, and rises from the individual's beliefs, affects millions of people each year. This study aimed to examine the effectiveness of teaching the problem solving skills on reducing students' social anxiety.
Materials and method: This study was a quasi-experimental one. By employing multi-stage sampling, 200 female high school students of Tehran's public schools were selected and examined by Social Anxiety Scale. Then 40 students who had achieved the highest scores on the scale were randomly selected among them, and divided into two experimental and control group randomly. Based on D'zarilla & Goldfield’s problem solving model, the problem solving skills were taught to the experimental group during 12 two-hour sessions.
Results: Results showed that Social anxiety among the students who received problem solving skills training was significantly lower than the students who didn’t receive the teaching and also problem-solving skills had the appropriate stability over time.
Conclusion: Teaching problem solving training is proposed as an effective method to get rid of anxiety among students and preventing psychological and physical trauma and behavioral problems.

Keywords

Amir, N., Bower, E., Briks, J., & Freshman, M. (2003). Implicit memory for negative and positive social information in individuals with and without social anxiety. Cognition and Emotion, 17(4), 567-583.
Beck, A. T., Emery, G., & Greenberg, R. L. (1985). Anxiety disorders and phobias: A cognitive perspective. New York: Basic.
Casper, A. M. (1998). Social problem solving therapy for unipolar depression: An initial dismantling investigation. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 57(3), 408-413.
Cassidy, T., & Long, C. (2003). Problem solving, anxiety and psychological illness: Development of a multi factorial measure. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 35, 256-277.
Clark, D., & Wells, A. (1995). A Cognitive model of social phobia. In R. G. Heimberg & M. R. Liebowitz, (Eds.), Social phobia: Diagnosis, assessment, and treatment (69-93). New York: Guilford.
Comer, R. J. (2001). Abnormal psychology. New York: Princeton University.
Dadsetan, P. (2003). Disease psychology, from childhood to old age. Tehran: SAMT Press [In Persian].
Davidson, J. R. T., Hughes, D. L., Georage, L. K., & Blazer, D. G. (2008). The epidemiology of social phobia: Findings from the epidemiological catchment areas study. Psychological Medicine, 23, 701-706.
Foa, E. B., & Kozak, M. J. (1985). Treatment of anxiety disorders: Implications for psychology. Hillsdate, NJ: Erlbaum.
Foa, E. B., Frankin, M. E, Perry, K.J., & Herbert, J. D. (1996). Cognitive biases in generalized social phobia. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 105, 433-439.
Kaplan, H. I., & Sadock, B. J. (2002). Synopsis of psychiatry vol. 2, Translated by Abbas Rafiee. Tehran: Arjomand [In Persian].
Kessler, R. C., & Stang, P. (2008). Lifetime co-morbidities between social phobia mood disorders in the national co-morbidity survey. Archive of General Psychiatry, 51, 8-19.
King, L. A., et al. (2004). The relations between social problem solving ability and subsequent level of academic competence in college students. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 16(5), 589-599.
Kirkley, J. (2003). Principles for teaching problem solving. Technical Paper #4, Plato Learning, Indiana University.
Lar Greca, A. M, & Lopez, N. (1998). Social anxiety among adolescents: Linkages with peer relations and friendships. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 26, 83-94.
Larence, B., & Almedia, C. (2000). Life events and coping resources as predictors of stress symptoms in adolescents. Personality and Individual Difference, 11 (7), 96-703.
Lecrubier, Y. (1998). Co-morbidity in social anxiety. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 12, 33-37.
Malkom, N. (2002). Thinking, problem cognition. New York: W.H.
Muris, P., & Osten, A. V. (2002). Social anxiety in college students. Journal of Behavior Therapy, 3, 203-220.
Pourshahsavari, F. (1999). A study of teaching method of problem solving in reducing anxiety. MA thesis, Alzahra University [In Persian].
Rheingold, A. A, Herbert, J. D., & Franklin, M. E. (2003). Cognitive bias in adolescents with social anxiety disorder. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 6, 639-655.
Sharifi, G. (1993). Study on the effectiveness of teaching problem solving methods in the treatment of control adolescent depression symptom. Unpublished Thesis, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Institute of Medical Psychology [In Persian].
Shure, M. B. (2000). Raising a thinking child workbook. U.S.A: Henry Holt and company Inc.
Sinclair, B. (2002). The effects of problem – solving software in problem- solving ability. Journal of Research on Computing in Education, 24 (3), 338-347.
Twerski, R. A., & Schwaerz, U. (2005). Positive parenting. NY: Pearson- Company Inc.
Uren, T. H., Szabo, M., & Lovibond, P. E. (2004). Probability and cost estimates for social and physical outcomes in social phobia and panic disorder. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 18, (4) 381-498.
Walter, M. (2000). Principles for teaching problem solving. Indiana University.