Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Testing the Cognitive Content-Specificity Hypothesis of Social Anxiety and Depression: An Application of Structural Equation Modeling

  • Published:
Cognitive Therapy and Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The present research examined three key issues of the cognitive content-specificity hypothesis of social anxiety and depression using structural equation modeling (SEM) approach. First, using confirmatory factor analyses on data from a sample of 507 undergraduate students, we found that both positive and negative self-statements factors of the modified Social Interaction Self-Statement Test were empirically differentiated from those of the Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire-Positive and the Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire. Next, SEM was used to analyze data from a subsample of 489 students to identify unique and common cognitive contents that contribute to social anxiety or depressive symptoms and then to evaluate their magnitudes simultaneously. Both positive and negative social interaction self-statements were unique to social anxiety symptoms. However, negative depressive self-statement was specific to depressive symptoms, whereas positive affect self-statement was common to the symptoms of social anxiety and depression. Furthermore, the effects of unique components of self-statements seemed stronger than that of common component on the symptoms of social anxiety and depression. In conclusion, these findings provide general support for the cognitive content-specificity hypothesis of social anxiety and depression.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Arbuckle, J., & Wothke, W. (1999). AMOS 4.0 user’s guide. Chicago: SmallWaters Corporation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bagozzi, R. P., & Edwards, J. R. (1998). A general approach for representing constructs in organizational research. Organizational Research Methods, 1, 45–87.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beck, A. T. (1967). Depression: Causes and treatment. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beck, A. T. (1976). Cognitive therapy and the emotional disorders. New York: New American Library.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beck, A. T., Emery, G., & Greenberg, R. (1985). Anxiety disorders and phobias: A cognitive perspective. New York: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beck, A. T., Rush, A. J., Shaw, B. F., & Emery, G. (1979). Cognitive therapy of depression. New York: Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beck, A. T., Steer, R. A., & Brown, G. K. (1996). Beck Depression Inventory—2nd ed. manual. San Antonio, TX: The Psychological Corporation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beck, A. T., Steer, R. A., & Garbin, M. G. (1988). Psychometric properties of the Beck Depression Inventory: Twenty-five years of evaluation. Clinical Psychology Review, 8, 77–100.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beck, A. T., Ward, C. H., Mendelson, M., Mock, J., & Erbaugh, J. (1961). An inventory for measuring depression. Archives of General Psychiatry, 4, 561–606.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Beck, R., & Perkins, T. C. (2001). Cognitive content-specificity for anxiety and depression: A meta analysis. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 25, 651–663.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bentler, P. M., & Chou, C. P. (1987). Practical issues in structural modeling. Sciological Methods and Research, 16, 78–117.

    Google Scholar 

  • Browne, M. W., & Cudeck, R. (1993). Alternative ways of assessing model fit. In K. A. Bollen & J. S. Long (Eds.), Testing structural equation models (pp. 136–162). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bruch, M. A., Mattia, J. I., Heimberg, R. J., & Holt, C. S. (1993). Cognitive specificity in social anxiety and depression: Supporting evidence and qualifications due to affective confounding. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 17, 1–21.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Byrne, B. M., & Baron, P. (1993). The Beck Depression Inventory: Testing and cross-validating an hierarchical factor structure for nonclinical adolescents. Measurement and Evaluation in Counseling and Development, 26, 164–178.

    Google Scholar 

  • Byrne, B. M., Baron, P., & Balev, J. (1998). The Beck Depression Inventory: A cross-validated test of second-order factorial structure for Bulgarian adolescents. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 58, 241–251.

    Google Scholar 

  • Byrne, B. M., Baron, P., & Campbell, T. L. (1993). Measuring adolescent depression: Factorial validity and invariance of the Beck Depression Inventory across gender. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 3, 127–143.

    Google Scholar 

  • Byrne, B. M., Baron, P., Larsson, B., & Melin, L. (1995). The Beck Depression Inventory: Testing and cross-validating a second-order factorial structure for nonclinical adolescents. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 33, 345–356.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Byrne, B. M., Baron, P., Larsson, B., & Melin, L. (1996). Measuring depression for Swedish nonclinical adolescents: Factorial validity and equivalence of the Beck Depression Inventory across gender. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 37, 37–45.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cho, Y. (1999). Tests of mediating effect of maladaptive automatic thoughts in the relationship between dysfunctional beliefs and socially phobic symptoms: Using structural equation modeling. Korean Journal of Clinical Psychology, 18, 17–36.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cho, Y. (2002). Factor structures of the Korean versions of the Social Anxiety Scales (K-SISST, K-SADS). Unpublished manuscript.

  • Cho, Y., & Kim, H. (1999). A preliminary study of cognitive-behavioral group therapy for social phobia. Medical Journal of Chosun University, 24, 165–179.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cho, Y., & Kim, J. (2002). Confirmatory factor analysis of the Korean version of the Beck Depression Inventory: Testing configural and metric invariance across undergraduate and clinical samples. Korean Journal of Clinical Psychology, 21, 843–857.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cho, Y., Kim, E., & Won, H. (1997). Cognitive assessment of social anxiety (II): A study on the reliability and validity of the Social Interaction Self-Statement Inventory. Korean Journal of Clinical Psychology, 16, 233–249.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cho, Y., & Won, H. (1999). Cognitive assessment of social anxiety (III): The development and validation of the Dysfunctional Beliefs Test. Korean Journal of Clinical Psychology, 18, 141–162.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cho, Y., Won, H., & Pyo, K. (2000). The effect of group cognitive therapy for social phobia. Korean Journal of Clinical Psychology, 19, 181–206.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clark, D. A., & Beck, A. T. (1989). Cognitive theory and therapy of anxiety and depression. In P. C. Kendall & D. Watson (Eds.), Anxiety and depression: Distinctive and overlapping features (pp. 379–411). San Diego: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clark, D. B., Feske, U., Masia, C. L., Spaulding, S. A., Brown, C., Mammen, O., & Shear, M. K. (1997). Systematic assessment of social phobia in clinical practice. Depression and Anxiety, 6, 47–61.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Clark, D. M., & Wells, A. (1995). A cognitive model of social phobia. In R. G. Heimberg, M. R. Liebowitz, D. A. Hope, F. R. Schneier (Eds.), Social Phobia: Diagnosis, assessment, and treatment (pp. 69–93). New York: Guilford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clark, L. A., & Watson, D., & (1991). Tripartite model of anxiety and depression: Psychometric evidence and taxonomic implications. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 100, 316–336.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dodge, C. S., Hope, D. A., Heimberg, R. G., & Becker, R. E. (1988). Evaluation of the Social Interaction Self-Statement Test with a social phobic population. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 12, 209–220.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Epkins, C. C. (1996). Cognitive specificity and affective confounding in social anxiety and dysphoria in children. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 18, 83–101.

    Google Scholar 

  • Feldman, L. A. (1993). Distinguishing depression and anxiety in self-report: Evidence from confirmatory factor analysis on nonclinical and clinical samples. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 40, 137–139.

    Google Scholar 

  • Foa, E. B., Franklin, M. E., Perry, K. J., & Herbert, J. D. (1996). Cognitive biases in generalized social phobia. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 105, 433–439.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Floyd, F. J., & Widaman, K. F. (1995). Factor analysis in the development and refinement of clinical assessment instruments. Psychological Assessment, 7, 286–299.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Glass, C. R., & Arnkoff, D. B. (1994). Validity issues in self-statement measures of social phobia and social anxiety. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 32, 255–267.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Glass, C. R., & Arnkoff, D. B. (1997). Questionnaire methods of cognitive self-statement assessment. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 65, 911–927.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Glass, C. R., Merluzzi, T. V., Biever, J. L., & Larsen, K. H. (1982). Cognitive assessment of social anxiety: Development and validation of a self-statement questionnaire. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 6, 37–55.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hollon, S. D., & Kendall, P. C. (1980). Cognitive self-statements in depression: Development and validation of an Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 4, 383–395.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hong, S., & Cho, Y. (1999). Latent structure of the Social Interaction Self-Statement Test: An application of hierarchical confirmatory factor analysis. Psychological Reports, 84, 1303–1314.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoyle, R. H. (1991). Evaluating measurement models in clinical research: Covariance structure analysis of latent variable models of self-conception. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 59, 67–76.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hoyle, R. H., & Smith, G. H. (1994). Formulating clinical research hypotheses as structural equation models: A conceptual overview. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 62, 429–440.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ingram, R. E. (1989a). Affective confounds in social-cognitive research. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57, 717–722.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ingram, R. E. (1989b). Unique and shared cognitive factors in social anxiety and depression. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 8, 198–208.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ingram, R. E., & Kendall, P. C. (1986). Cognitive clinical psychology: Implications of an information processing perspective. In R. E. Ingram (Ed.), Information processing approaches to clinical psychology (pp. 3–21). Orlando, FL: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ingram, R. E., & Kendall, P. C. (1987). The cognitive side of anxiety. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 11, 523–536.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ingram, R. E., Kendall, P. C., Smith, T. W., Donnell, C., & Ronan, K. (1987). Cognitive specificity in emotional distress. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 53, 734–742.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ingram, R. E., & Wisnicki, K. S. (1988). Assessment of positive automatic cognition. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 56, 898–902.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jolly, J. B., & Kramer, T. A. (1994). The hierarchical arrangement of internalizing cognitions. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 18, 1–14.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kendall, P. C., & Ingram, R. E. (1987). The future of cognitive assessment of anxiety. In L. Michelson & L. M. Asher (Eds.), Anxiety and stress disorders (pp. 89–104). New York: Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kendall, P. C., & Ingram, R. E. (1989). Cognitive-behavioral perspectives: Theory and research on depression and anxiety. In P. C. Kendall & D. Watson (Eds.), Anxiety and depression: Distinctive and overlapping features (pp. 27–53). San Diego: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kim, J., Cho, Y., Park, S., Kim, H., Kim, S., & Pyo, K. (2002). Factor structure of the Korean version of the Beck Depression Inventory: An application of confirmatory factor analysis in clinical samples. Korean Journal of Clinical Psychology, 21, 247–258.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kishton, J. M., & Widaman, K. F. (1994). Unidimensional versus domain representative parceling of questionnaire items: An empirical example. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 54, 757–765.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kwon, S., & Yoon, H. (1994). Construction and utilization of the Korean Version of the Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire. Student Review, 29, 10–25.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leary, M. R. (1991). Social anxiety, shyness, and related constructs. In J. P. Robinson, P. R. Shaver, & L. S. Wrightsman (Eds.), Measures of personality and social psychological attitudes (Vol. 1, pp.161–194). New York: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lee, Y., & Song, J. (1991). A study of the reliability and validity of the Beck depression Inventory, Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale, and Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-Depression scale. Korean Journal of Clinical Psychology, 10, 98–113.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lipman, R. S. (1982). Differentiating anxiety and depression in anxiety disorders: Use of rating scales. Psychopharmacology Bulletin, 18, 69–77.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Marsh, H. W. (1994). Confirmatory factor analysis models of factorial invariance: A multifaceted approach. Structural Equation Modeling, 1, 5–34.

    Google Scholar 

  • McNeil, D. W., Ries, B. J., & Turk, C. L. (1995). Behavioral assessment, self-report, physiology, and overt behavior. In R. G. Heimberg, M. R. Liebowitz, D. A. Hope, & F. R. Schneier (Eds.), Social phobia: Diagnosis, assessment, and treatment (pp. 202–231). New York: Guilford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Osman, A., Markway, K., & Osman, J. R. (1992). Psychometric properties of the Social Interaction Self-Statement Inventory in a college sample. Psychological Reports, 71, 1171–1177.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Peters, L. (2000). Discriminant validity of the Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory, the Social Phobia Scale, and the Social Interaction Anxiety Inventory. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 38, 943–950.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rapee, R. M., & Heimberg, R. G. (1997). A cognitive-behavioral model of anxiety of social phobia. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 35, 741–756.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Read, T. R. C., & Cressie, N. A. C. (1988). Goodness-of-fit statistics for discrete multivariate data. New York: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Safren, A. S., Heimberg, R. G., Lerner, J., Henin, A., Warman, M., & Kendall, P. C. (2000). Differentiating anxious and depressive self-staytements: Combined factor structure of the Anxious Self-Statements Questionnaire and the Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire-Revised. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 24, 327–344.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sahin, N. H., & Sahin, N. (1992). Reliability and validity of the Turkish version of the Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 48, 334–340.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sanz, J., & Avia, M. D. (1994). Cognitive specificity in social anxiety and depression: Self-statements, self-focused attention, and dysfunctional attitudes. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 13, 105–137.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schumacker, R. E., & Lomax, R. G. (1996). A beginner’s guide to structural equation modeling. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stavrakaki, C., & Vargo, B. (1986). The relationship of anxiety and depression: A review of the literature. British Journal of Psychiatry, 149, 7–16.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Steer, R. A., & Beck, A. T. (1988). Beck depression Inventory. In M. Hersen & A. S. Bellack (Eds.), Dictionary of behavioral assessment techniques (pp. 44–46). New York: Pergamon.

    Google Scholar 

  • Turk, C. L., Lerner, J., Heimberg, R. G., & Rapee, R. M. (2001). An integrated cognitive-behavioral model of social anxiety. In S. G. Hofmann & P. M. DiBartolo (Eds.), From social anxiety to social phobia: Multiple perspectives (pp. 281–303). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

    Google Scholar 

  • Turner, S. M., Beidel, D. C. Dancu, C. V., & Stanley, M. A. (1989). An empirically derived inventory to measure social fears and anxiety: The Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory. Psychological Assessment, 1, 35–40.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Watson, D., & Clark, L. A. (1992). Affects separable and in separable: On the hierarchical arrangement of the negative affects. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 62, 489–505.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Watson, D., Clark, L. A., & Tellegen, A. (1988). Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect: The PANAS scales. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 1063–1070.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Watson, D., & Friend, R. (1969). Measurement of social-evaluative anxiety. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 33, 448–457.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Watson, D., & Tellegen, A. (1985). Toward a consensual structure of mood. Psychological Bulletin, 98, 219–235.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Woody, S. R., Taylor, S., McLean, P. D., & Koch, W. J. (1998). Cognitive specificity in panic and depression: Implications for comorbidity. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 22, 427–443.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Hallym University, 39 Hallymdaehak-Gil, Chuncheon, Gangwon-do, 200-702, South Korea

    Yongrae Cho PhD

  2. Department of Psychology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas

    Michael J. Telch

Authors
  1. Yongrae Cho PhD
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Michael J. Telch
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yongrae Cho PhD.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Cho, Y., Telch, M.J. Testing the Cognitive Content-Specificity Hypothesis of Social Anxiety and Depression: An Application of Structural Equation Modeling. Cogn Ther Res 29, 399–416 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-005-2081-9

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-005-2081-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation