Abstract:

Abstract The transition to college and its associated social challenges could trigger social anxiety and depression among young college students. There is a paucity of literature relating coping self-efficacy, coping strategies, social anxiety and depression. The current study aims to fill this gap by finding the contributions of gender, coping self-efficacy (CSE), and coping strategies onto the levels of social anxiety and depression among college students. It also aims to find race-ethnicity differences, considering students’ level of social anxiety and depression. One hundred and fifty-eight students were recruited from the undergraduate psychology subject pool at a northeastern university. The Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale, Diagnostic Inventory for Depression, Coping Self-Efficacy Scale and Brief COPE were used to measure the study variables. A one-way ANOVA and simultaneous multiple linear regression analyses were conducted to examine data. There were no significant race-ethnicity differences in social anxiety, depressive symptom severity, psychosocial impairment, and quality of life. However, gender and self-blame significantly predicted social anxiety; substance use, behavioral disengagement, and self-blame significantly predicted depressive symptom severity; and social support CSE significantly predicted psychosocial impairment. Gender, dysfunctional coping strategies and social-support CSE were significantly associated with social anxiety and depression among college students. The results have important implications for treatment intervention and outreach by college counseling personnel. Author Biographies Madhuri Dugyala Counselor Counseling and Psychological Services Indiana University Bloomington, USA E-mail: [email protected] ORCID: 0000-0001-9804-6813

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