ABSTRACT

Social anxiety is a prominent psychological concern within sexual minority populations. We systematically reviewed the related empirical literature in order to 1) describe the characteristics of studies assessing social anxiety among sexual minority individuals; 2) compare social anxiety levels across sexual orientation subgroups; 3) synthesise bivariate and multivariate associations related to social anxiety, and collate qualitative findings pertaining to social anxiety, among sexual minority populations; 4) identify psychological interventions that have been empirically tested to reduce social anxiety symptoms in sexual minority individuals. A search strategy was implemented across six databases, and 61 papers representing 46 unique studies were identified for inclusion. The vast majority of studies were cross-sectional, based in the USA, and more focused on sexual minority men than women. No included studies were qualitative in nature. Across studies, sexual minority individuals consistently appear at a higher risk for social anxiety symptoms than heterosexuals. Subgroup analyses within sexual minority subgroups are scarce; however, tentative evidence suggests that bisexual individuals are at greater risk for high social anxiety symptoms than gay/lesbian individuals. Minority stress processes, general social processes (e.g. social support), other internalising mental health symptoms, among other variables hold significant associations with social anxiety across the included studies. Empirical studies testing the efficacy of psychological interventions in this area are markedly lacking. Future studies should employ more diverse methodologies (i.e. experimental, longitudinal, and qualitative) to further elucidate the determinants and experience of social anxiety among sexual minority individuals and interventions to address them.

摘要

社交焦虑是性少数群体中一个突出的心理问题。我们系统地回顾了相关的实证文献，以便 1）描述评估性少数群体社交焦虑的研究的特征；2）比较性取向亚组的社交焦虑水平；3) 综合与社交焦虑相关的双变量和多变量关联，并在性少数人群中整理与社交焦虑有关的定性发现；4）确定已经过经验测试的心理干预措施，以减少性少数群体的社交焦虑症状。在六个数据库中实施了一项搜索策略，并确定了代表 46 项独特研究的 61 篇论文以供纳入。绝大多数研究是横断面的，总部设在美国，并且更关注性少数的男性而不是女性。没有纳入的研究本质上是定性的。在所有研究中，性少数群体出现社交焦虑症状的风险始终高于异性恋者。性少数亚组内的亚组分析很少；然而，初步证据表明，双性恋者比男同性恋者更容易出现高社交焦虑症状。少数人的压力过程、一般社会过程（例如社会支持）、其他内化的心理健康症状，以及其他变量与纳入研究的社交焦虑显着相关。测试该领域心理干预效果的实证研究明显不足。未来的研究应该采用更多样化的方法（即实验、纵向、