Current Studies

The Exclusion and Social Anxiety Study is a multipart study that comprises data collected via multiple methods, including self-report questionnaires, diagnostic and idiographic interviewing, and ecological momentary assessment (EMA; signal- and event-contingent reporting). The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between socially-relevant experiences (e.g., rejection, social comparisons) and emotional and social functioning during people's recalled and real-time experiences. A secondary aim of this study was to explore if and how these relationships differ for people with or without a social anxiety disorder (SAD) diagnosis.

While existing research has begun to clarify individual and structural experiences of LGBTQ+ stigma and discrimination, little work has examined local, community contexts and how they relate to LGBTQ+ people's perceptions of day-to-day discrimination risk.

In our study, individuals iteratively selected between vignettes, identifying which local contexts they'd be most concerned about facing discrimination within. This procedure—conjoint analysis—can estimate overall preference structures (e.g., location is more important than time of day), and preferences among specific levels (e.g., restaurants are preferred above parks). Conjoint methods to assess perceived discrimination risk in physical environments can identify how environmental features (i.e., location type, familiarity, distance from home, time of day, presence of a peer/romantic partner) influence LGBTQ+ people’s perceptions of discrimination risk.

The Social Anxiety Stories study is a cross-sectional survey that asks people to share stories about how social anxiety has impacted their life. Sharing stories of real-life experiences of social anxiety can help decrease stigma and increase the public’s awareness and understanding of social anxiety. In this project, we are gathering the stories of people with social anxiety difficulties with the intention of sharing these stories with the general public.

The Social Anxiety Stigma Study is a three part study aimed at understanding primary misconceptions and stigma around social anxiety disorder. Studies 1 and 2 are two time-point studies; Study 3 is a one time-point study. The purpose of the project was to first develop and validate a measure of social anxiety disorder stigma. Secondary goals include to (1) identify common misconceptions of social anxiety disorder, (2) examine how knowledge of and exposure to social anxiety disorder are associated with stigma towards social anxiety disorder, (3) examine how demographic variables (age, gender, race, socioeconomic status) are associated with stigma towards social anxiety disorder, and (4) examine how current symptom levels of social anxiety and psychological distress are associated with stigma towards social anxiety disorder.

The Intersectional Rejection Study investigates how individuals with minority LGBTQIA+ and/or racial identities perceive and appraise rejection experiences. Data were collected via Prolific, where four samples were recruited/screened based upon majority or minority status, resulting in four distinct groups: sexual majority and racial minority, sexual minority and racial majority, sexual majority and racial majority, and sexual minority and racial minority. Data are currently being analyzed to understand how sexual minorities attribute rejection experiences to their identity and moderators of this effect.

Authenticity, the sense of being true to oneself, may be less sought out or rewarding when concerns with social approval and/or rejection take priority. The Social Anxiety Authenticity Study investigates the moderating role of state social anxiety in relationships between (1) social context/appraisals (i.e., closeness with interaction partner and feeling judged) and authenticity, (2) expressivity and authenticity, and (3) authenticity and social motivation. This study utilizes ecological momentary assessment (EMA) methodology, asking participants questions about their most recent social interactions via smartphone app, 6 times daily over the course of 2 weeks. This study is still in the phase of data collection.