Objective: This study aims to determine early maladaptive schema
domains that significantly predict social anxiety symptoms in university
students and to examine whether mindfulness and self-compassion play
mediating roles in the correlation of these schema domains with social
anxiety symptoms.
Method: 440 students from various departments of universities
participated in the study. Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale, Young Schema
Questionnaire-Short Form 3, Five Facets Mindfulness Questionnaire,
and Self-Compassion Scale were used to evaluate social anxiety, early
maladaptive schema domains, mindfulness, and self-compassion,
respectively.
Results: The hierarchical regression analyses demonstrated that
maladaptive schemas in the domains of disconnection, impaired
autonomy, and unrelenting standards significantly predicted the increase
in social anxiety symptoms. It was found that the level of mindfulness
mediated the correlations between these three schema domains and
social anxiety symptoms. Moreover, self-compassion mediated the
correlations between the schema domains of impaired autonomy and
unrelenting standards and social anxiety symptoms.
Conclusion: Findings indicate the importance of both specific schema
domains and the level of mindfulness and self-compassion in explaining
social anxiety symptoms in university students. The results’ possible
causes and clinical implications were discussed in light of the current
literature.
Keywords: Social Anxiety, Early Maladaptive Schemas, Mindfulness,
Self-Compassion