Topic: Impact of

Self Esteem and

Social Desireability
on Social Phobia
By: Zarish Khan
 Introduction
• In the fifth edition of the DSM, social anxiety is defined as a “marked and
persistent fear of one or more social or performance situations in which the
person is exposed to unfamiliar people or possible scrutiny by others”
(American Psychiatric Association [APA], 1994, p. 416; see Appendix A).

• People suffering from social anxiety frequently have an “intense, persistent

fear of bringing attention to themselves in social circumstances, feeling that their
flaws will be exposed.” (Kashdan & Farmer, 2014, p.629).

• Individual with social anxiety show various behavioral aspects of our society
as an example nervousness, apprehension, fear, and concern which inversely
affect their personal as well as their social traits and self-esteem.
● Self-esteem is defined as a person's overall appraisal of his or her mental,
social, emotional, moral as well as physical attributes. Therefore, the level of self-
esteem is one of the most important aspects in determining whether a person has
a positive or negative self-realization.

● Zoccolillo (1992) reveals that social anxiety and self-esteem have a significant
connection. The lower the individual's self-esteem is, the more social anxiety he
or she demonstrates. Self-esteem, on the other hand, is the most effective way of
achieving self-acceptance, which assists in dealing with failure as well as
challenging, unfamiliar, and novel social settings. As a result, self-esteem
impacts the severity of social phobia. (Alansari, 2004; Muammariyah, 2009).
• Social desirability is the tendency for people to present themselves in a generally
favourable fashion.

• Persons with a strong tendency toward social desirability may indicate higher self-
esteem and lower anxiety on self-report measures than do persons with a weak
tendency. Thus, social desirability may be the common factor underlying the
correlation between self-esteem and anxiety.
 Rationale
The current study is intended to explore how self esteem and social desirability impacts on
social anxiety disorder. Previous studies indicate that self-esteem is negatively related to social
phobia, but it is an open question what role social desirability plays in this relation.

Most of the studies and researches in the past focused that there is inverse relation between the
self esteem and social anxiety. On the contrary little or no attention has been given to social
desirability that how it is related to social anxiety.

Purpose of this study is to increase the knowledge of psychologists about the corresponding
factors
. and help their clients to correspond with situations.
 Objectives
a. To assess the relationship between self esteem and social desirability.

b. To assess the impact of self esteem and social desirability on social anxiety disorder.

. Hypothesis
Social anxiety creates a relationship with self-esteem and social desirability.
 Reseach Methodology

Setting: Students enrolled in undergraduate/BS level (Bachelor in Science) in

different universities of twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi, will be selected
as target population.

Research design: A descriptive, quantitative study will be carried out. 

Sampling strategy: Convenient Random sampling 

. Sample size/ selection criteria : 300 university students with age range 17-24
(mean age=20.5 ) representing both genders.
 Procedure
• The questionnaire will be developed on Google Forms and then will sent to the
participants via the internet.

Pilot Study: To evaluate duration, cost, feasibility and most important reliability of
instrument.

● 30 participants including 15 male and 15 female within the age range of 17-25 years
from universities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad.

Main Study:
. ● For main study data will collected form 300 participant including both male and female
from universities school of Rawalpindi and Islamabad
 Instruments

• The Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale presented high ratings in reliability areas; internal

consistency was 0.77, minimum Coefficient of Reproducibility was at least 0.90 (M. Rosenberg,
1965, and personal communication, April 22, 1987).

• The Marlowe Crowne Social Desirability Scale (MCSDS) is a 33-item measure of

individual-level social desirability bias, which was defined as the “need for subjects to respond in
culturally sanctioned ways” (Crowne and Marlowe 1960, p. 354) and also “need for social
approval” (Crowne and Marlowe 1964).

• The Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (SIAS) is a 20 item self-report scale designed to
measure social interaction anxiety defined as “distress when meeting and talking with other
people” (Mattick and Clarke, 1998, p. 457). 
 Ethical Consideration
• Participation will be voluntary and anonymous.
• Informed consent will be taken from the participants.
• The participants will be given a choice to withdraw from survey at
any time.
• The structure of the survey will briefly clarify the purpose of the
research.
• The assembled data will be kept confidential.

.
 Statistical Analysis
Software:
Data will be checked for its completeness,coded and then analysis on SPSS
version 23 statistical software for analysis.

Statistical Test:
MANOVA(Multivariate Regression) will be applied for variable analysis.

Analysis Criteria:
Level of significance less than 0.05 (p<.05) will be set as analysis criteria.
.