Predicting Social Anxiety Among Adolescents Based on Peer Rejection and Friendship Quality: The Mediating Role of Negative Self-Evaluation

Wei-Ting Lin; Natalie Singh

Authors

Wei-Ting Lin Department of Health Psychology, National Sun Yat-sen University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan Author https://orcid.org/0009-0002-4783-8479
Natalie Singh Department of Cross-Cultural Psychology, University of Windsor, Windsor, Canada Corresponding Author

Keywords:

Social anxiety, Peer rejection, Friendship quality, Negative self-evaluation, Adolescents, Mediation

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to predict social anxiety among adolescents based on peer rejection and friendship quality and to examine the mediating role of negative self-evaluation in these relationships.

Methods and Materials: The study employed a cross-sectional correlational design with mediation analysis. Participants were 368 adolescents aged 13–18 years enrolled in Grades 8–12 in public secondary schools in Ontario, Canada, during the 2025–2026 academic year, selected through multistage cluster sampling. Social anxiety was assessed using the Social Anxiety Scale for Adolescents, friendship quality using the Friendship Quality Questionnaire, peer rejection through a classroom-based sociometric peer-nomination procedure, and negative self-evaluation using the Negative Self-Evaluation Scale. Data were analyzed using Pearson correlation, multiple and hierarchical regression analyses, and PROCESS Model 4 with 5,000 bootstrap resamples. Age and gender were statistically controlled.

Findings: Peer rejection significantly predicted higher negative self-evaluation (β = .30, p < .001), whereas friendship quality significantly predicted lower negative self-evaluation (β = -.35, p < .001). In the final regression model, negative self-evaluation was the strongest predictor of social anxiety (β = .46, p < .001), while peer rejection remained a significant positive predictor (β = .20, p < .001) and friendship quality remained a significant negative predictor (β = -.12, p = .002). The final model explained 46.1% of the variance in social anxiety. Bootstrapping confirmed significant indirect effects of peer rejection through negative self-evaluation (B = 1.87, 95% CI [1.23, 2.60]) and friendship quality through negative self-evaluation (B = -3.37, 95% CI [-4.57, -2.35]), indicating partial mediation.

Conclusion: The findings indicate that peer rejection and friendship quality are significantly associated with adolescent social anxiety both directly and indirectly through negative self-evaluation, highlighting self-evaluative processes as an important mechanism linking peer experiences with social anxiety.

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