November 14, 2024
Dear Colleagues,
The National Social Anxiety Center (NSAC) provides information about relevant and current research in service of disseminating and promoting evidence-based treatment. This month’s summary is written by Annika Okamoto, PhD, A-CBT representing NSAC Santa Barbara, and examines the 2024 article Adolescents’ hormonal responses to social stress and associations with adolescent social anxiety and maternal comfort: A preliminary study published by Morgan et al.
In a study exploring the development of social anxiety among adolescents, researchers examined the influence of social environments, including parental support, on the onset of social anxiety symptoms. Adolescents are particularly susceptible to social anxiety due to their increased sensitivity to peer feedback and social evaluation. Those who experience peer victimization, exclusion, or perceived social threats are more likely to develop social anxiety symptoms, driven by heightened self-consciousness and fear of negative judgment.
Specifically, this study explored the role of maternal comfort—defined as a mother’s ability to offer emotional support and reassurance during social challenges—as a protective factor. Maternal comfort was measured in adolescent-parent interactions in structured settings through verbal affirmations, warmth, and responsiveness to the adolescent’s social distress. Researchers examined 11 to 14-year-old adolescents’ cortisol and oxytocin reactivity as indicators of stress response. Following a social stress task, adolescents showed significant increases in cortisol and decreases in oxytocin. In contrast, after receiving maternal comfort, adolescents experienced decreases in cortisol and increases in oxytocin, highlighting the physiological benefits of maternal support.
Adolescents with higher social anxiety symptoms displayed elevated baseline cortisol and greater declines in cortisol in response to maternal comfort, though social anxiety symptoms were unrelated to oxytocin response to either stress or support. Adolescents who consistently received maternal comfort also showed reduced social anxiety over time, with the protective effects most pronounced for those with higher initial levels of social anxiety. These findings underscore the critical role that maternal support plays in regulating adolescents’ physiological responses to stress and in mitigating social anxiety.
Take-away: Adolescents’ heightened susceptibility to social anxiety is shaped by peer dynamics and individual coping resources, with maternal comfort serving as a significant protective factor. Early interventions aimed at enhancing parental support may help prevent and reduce social anxiety during this period, especially for those with higher levels of anxiety.
For clinicians: How could you incorporate seeking maternal comfort into your social anxiety treatment with adolescents?
Morgan, J. K., Conner, K. K., Fridley, R. M., Olino, T. M., Grewen, K. M., Silk, J. S., Iyengar, S., Cyranowski, J. M., & Forbes, E. E. (2024). Adolescents’ hormonal responses to social stress and associations with adolescent social anxiety and maternal comfort: A preliminary study. Child Psychiatry and Human Development, 55(6), 1701–1711.
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Annika Okamoto, PhD, A-CBT
Representing NSAC Santa Barbara
(Oceanside Clinics)