Social anxiety is experienced in the wild: A systematic review of studies using ambulatory assessment (Preprint)

BACKGROUND There has been an increased interest in understanding social anxiety (SA) and social anxiety disorder (SAD) antecedents and consequences as they occur in real-time, resulting in a proliferation of studies utilizing ambulatory assessment (AA). Despite the exponential growth of research in this area, these studies have not been synthesized yet. OBJECTIVE To identify and describe the latest advances in the understanding of social anxiety by means of the use of ambulatory assessment METHODS Following PRISMA guidelines a Scopus, Pubmed and Web of Science systematic literature search was conducted. RESULTS 55 articles met the inclusion criteria. The qualitative synthesis of these studies showed that AA permitted the exploration of the emotional, cognitive and behavioral dynamics associated with the experience of SA and SAD. In line with the available models of SA and SAD, emotion regulation, perseverative cognition, cognitive factors, substance use and interactional patterns were the principal topics among the included studies. Besides, the incorporation of AA to study psychological interventions, the multimodal assessment through the use of sensors and biosensors and transcultural differences were some of the identified emerging topics. CONCLUSIONS AA constitutes a very powerful methodology to grasp SA from a complementary perspective to laboratory experiments and usual self-report measures, shedding light upon the cognitive, emotional and behavioral antecedents and consequences of SA and the development and maintenance of the experience of SA as a mental disorder.