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©Advance Educational Institute & Research Centre                                                 Annals of Psychophysiology 

www.aeirc-edu.com                                                                                                       Volume 2, December 2015 

 

ISSN 2412-3188 
 

Original Article  

To Evaluate the Relationship between Social Anxiety & Life-Satisfaction among Adolescence in Karachi 

Junaid Ahmed1, Shamoon Noushad2 & Sadaf Ahmed2&3 

1-Fedral Udru University of Science & technology (FUUSAT) 

2-Advance Educational Institute & Research Centre (AEIRC) 

3-Psychphysiology Research Lab, Universuty of Karachi 

Corresponding Author: jaajfze@hotmail.com 

Abstract 

The purpose of the present study is to investigate the relationship between social anxiety and life satisfaction in 

Adolescence of Karachi. The sample of 106 adolescents was randomly collected from Karachi (54 male & 49 females) 

age range from 18 to 25. It was hypothesized that there would be significant negative correlation between social 

anxiety & life satisfaction score. For measuring Socially Anxiety “Social Interaction Anxiety Scale” (Mattick, R. P., 

& Clarke, J.C) was administered and for Life Satisfaction “Life-Effectiveness Questionnaire” (James, T. Neill.) was 

administered. Whole questionnaire was self-reported and in Life Satisfaction eight domains was focused with the help 

of Life-Effectiveness Questionnaire (1)Time Management, (2)Social Competence, (3)Achievement Motivation, 

(4)Intellectual Flexibility, (5)Task Leadership, (6)Emotional Control, (7)Active Initiative, (8)Self Confidence. For 

statistical analysis Pearson Product Correlation was applied on the Ratio/Equal Interval data scores with the help of 

SPSS 22.0v. Result shows significant negative correlation between Social Anxiety & Life Satisfaction Scores r=-.343, 

p<0.01. It is concluded that Social Anxiety has significant negative impact on Life Satisfaction among adolescence 

and researches reported that social anxiety convert in social anxiety disorder then it effects different areas of daily life 

(Stein & Kean, 2000). 

Keywords 

Social Anxiety, Life-Satisfaction, Adolescence 

 

Introduction 

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual-V (APA, 2013) 

Social Anxiety (Social Phobia) is fear or anxiety 

(feeling of shyness, uncomfortable in participating 

daily activities) in one or more social situation. A 

Survey based study was conducted on 200 general 

population of Karachi (both genders male & female) 

which showed significant results that reported that 

45% of sample population is suffering from Social 

Anxiety (fear of speaking & meeting other people also 

in different social situations. It is also noted that Social 

Interaction is being observed while eating or drinking 

in public, performing tasks in social environment. It 

leads to individual avoid social situation which leads 

fear or anxiety and it shows clinically significant 

distress in daily functioning (Naveed, S. et al. 2015). 

Social anxiety can be a provoking stimulus for 

different disability. Researchers reported that 69% 

individual faced impairment in general social 

relationship, and in them the half of population was 

unmarried who got impairment in opposite sex 

relation. However research explored that disability 

may also vary individual to individual in same 

situation and intensity (Schneier et al. 1994). Wittchen 

et al. (1999) demonstrated that adolescence is the 

period which marks the highest risk of social anxiety. 

Adolescence is the period which catches researchers’ 

attention from which they found the different 

problems in adolescence, especially in social 

functioning, trouble in peer relationship and also 

negative perception of self (La Greca & Lopez, 1998). 

Individuals who were suffering with social anxiety 

reported low level of educational achievement and less 

productive in working environment (Stein, et al. 

2000). Furthermore, that people who suffering from 

social anxiety disorder reported frequently visits of 

medical treatment (Davidson, et al. 1993). A study 

reported that in Pakistan general adolescents facing 

social anxiety which after going ahead lead low of 

confidence and low self-esteem in them. After this 

factor many student become anxious in social situation 

in interaction with others, speaking or giving speech in 

audience (Ahmed, Z. R. et al. 2013). In the contras 

research in Pakistani culture revealed that culture is 

also predictor of life satisfaction. Age also effects on 

life satisfaction although found no difference in life 

satisfaction of male & females (Bibi, F. et al.  2015). 

In one study Kashani (1989) explored that chance of 

social anxiety increase in both genders (male & 

female) when satisfaction of life bends toward peer 

from family. Psychometric properties of disability 

study conduct for knowing the relation with social 

anxiety disorder and it is found that social anxiety is 

strongly negative correlated with quality of life. Also 

found that chances of other disabilities are commonly 

noted in social anxiety patients (Hambrick, J. P. 2004). 

Same results found between confidence, self-esteem & 

social interaction (Saras on et al. 1990). Brown (1991) 

reported in his study that people who found most 

popular among peers & social situation have more 

positive self-image & satisfaction in life. Children 

who found social anxious also reported low social 

acceptance, self-esteem & interaction among peers 

(Ginsberg, 1998). 

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Junaid Ahmed 13 

 

©Advance Educational Institute & Research Centre                                                 Annals of Psychophysiology 

www.aeirc-edu.com                                                                                                       Volume 2, December 2015 

 

ISSN 2412-3188 
 

Some researchers also emphasized on this question to 

find out that how much social anxiety attributed 

association with other disorders like depression (Stein 

et al., 1999; Weiller et al., 1996). Social anxiety also 

associated with reduced work performance, effect 

negatively on social interaction, and found problems 

in children & adolescence (Schneier et al., 1994; 

Wittchen et al. 2000).  

Quality of life researched explained that severity of 

social anxiety also effect on Quality of Life, when 

Social anxiety severity increase quality of life decrease 

(Candilis, P.J., 1999; Meltzer-Brody S., 2000). 

Although Christine (2002) findings reported 

significant load of illness associated with anxiety 

disorder and Quality of Life. Most studies indicated 

that parenting raising style, biological, family 

structure play important role in developing social 

anxiety which showed by empirical evidences (Parker, 

G., 1983). Lieb, R., (2000) empirically explore that 

multiple family factors are involved for developing 

social anxiety (Parental Psychopathology). Some 

other researches depicted that individual judge life 

satisfaction by comparing own life with self-imposed 

standard and done this comparison with the cognitive 

ability (Diener, E.D. 1985; Shine, D.S 1978).  John 

reported that Individual who experience more positive 

effects in life than negative see self-image as more 

satisfied, strong in subjective well-being and report 

life same as his/her desired standard (John, F. 2011). 

A recent research in Asia also explored that gender 

plays major role in life satisfaction. Results showed 

that male found more satisfied with their lives than 

females (Yaremtchuk, S. K. 2014). Another research 

on life satisfaction tells that life satisfaction is 

correlated with self-esteem. It is also reported that it is 

explored with the help of empirical research that boys 

found more in life satisfaction & self-esteem than girls 

(Khatib, S.A. 2013). Research on gender difference in 

life satisfaction & loneliness depicts that gender has 

also significantly effect on life satisfaction & 

loneliness. Also reported that loneliness and life 

satisfaction have negative correlation although female 

students found more in loneliness &less in life 

satisfaction in opposite male students found more in 

life satisfaction & less in loneliness (Bugay, A. 2007). 

Samaranayake (2011) conducted a research on 

medical & other students for knowing their 

relationship with anxiety & depression disorders and 

results revealed that female students reported more on 

anxiety & depression, in opposite those medical 

students found more satisfied with their lives than 

other students. Research on African American & 

Caucasian American tells that there is strong and 

significant correlation between life satisfaction and 

social support (Joh, F. 2011). 

 

Methodology 

This study was conducted on the general population& 

sample was randomly selected from adolescents of 

Karachi. In this study total 106 participants were 

selected from both genders (male & female). Selected 

participants belong to age group18 to 25 years and 

everyone had an equal chance to participate because 

survey sampling method was used in this study. The 

demographic sheet was used for measuring other 

extraneous & confounding variables like; age, gender, 

birth order, siblings, and socio-economic status 

(dependent/independent). Social Interaction Anxiety 

Scale (Mattick, R.P, & Clarke, J.C., 1998) is a self-

report measure consist of 20 Items with 3 reverse items 

(5, 9 & 11). It is helpful in measuring social anxiety 

symptoms over time, and also helpful as part of an 

assessment for social phobia or other anxiety related 

disorders. Life-Effectiveness Questionnaire (James T. 

Neill Ph.D.) is also a self-reported scale consists of24 

Items with no reverse Item. It is focused on eight 

domains of Life-Effectiveness (1) Time Management, 

(2) Social Competence, (3) Achievement Motivation, 

(4) Intellectual Flexibility, (5)Task Leadership, 

(6)Emotional Control, (7)Active Initiative, (8)Self 

Confidence. Participants were approached at 

difference places and asked to fill out the self-reported 

questionnaires after giving a short brief about the 

study. If they were agree to participate, they were 

given consent form to fill and then explain that how to 

fill questionnaires. Some participants faced difficulty 

in attempting questions due to non-native language 

(English) so the questions were explained to them. In 

the end, participants who participated were 

appreciated. 

Results 

After collecting all questionnaires they were scored 

according to their procedure, and data was pulled on 

SPSS 22.0v for statistical analysis. Pearson Product 

Correlation was applied for seeing the correlation 

between Social Anxiety & Life Satisfaction Scores. 

Table 1: Pearson’s Correlation between Social 

Anxiety & Life Effectiveness 

  Life 

Effectiveness 

Social 

Anxiety 

Life 

Effectiv

eness 

 

 

 

Social 

Anxiety 

 

Pearson 

Correlation 

Sig. 1-Tailed 

N 

 

Pearson 

Correlation 

Sig. 1-Tailed 

N 

 

 1 

 

106 

 

-.343** 

.000 

106 

-.343** 

.000 

106 

 

1 

 

106 

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Junaid Ahmed 14 

 

©Advance Educational Institute & Research Centre                                                 Annals of Psychophysiology 

www.aeirc-edu.com                                                                                                       Volume 2, December 2015 

 

ISSN 2412-3188 
 

**Correlation is significant at the 0.1 (1-tailed) 

Discussion 

In the present study, alternate hypothesis is proved 

which showed by result the significant negative 

correlation between both variables (social anxiety & 

life-satisfaction). Result supported to the hypothesis 

r= -343, p<0.01. Previous studies on social anxiety & 

life-satisfaction also demonstrated that Social Anxiety 

has significant negative impact on Life Satisfaction 

(Stein & Kean, 2000). Another study revealed that 

confidence, self-esteem & social interaction have a 

strong negative relation (Saras on et al. 1990). Brown 

(1991) reported in his study that people who found 

most popular among peers & social situation have 

more positive self-image & satisfaction in life. 

Children who found social anxious also reported low 

social acceptance, self-esteem & interaction among 

peers (Ginsberg, 1998).  

Present study showed significant negative relation in 

among both variables but not enough strong 

correlation, it is nearby moderate relationship between 

both variables although other researchers reported 

strong negative correlation (Stein & Kean, 2000).  It 

can be due to different confounding & extraneous 

variables that adolescent is age in which youngsters do 

not take interest participating in research which was 

observe during study. Participant observed exhaustive 

due to lengthy questionnaire & language barrier (non-

native language questionnaire). It is also found female 

most cooperative than male participants. 

It is concluded that social anxiety affects the different 

domain of life-satisfaction and significant low 

performance found in daily activity. Social anxiety 

also further leads to different disabilities in daily life. 

Research defined that social anxiety convert in social 

anxiety disorder then it affects different areas of daily 

life (Stein & Kean, 2000). 

Further researched for curing Social anxiety disorders 

researches are being conducted in clinical setting 

which reported relationship of social anxiety & life 

satisfaction in the domain of Cognitive behavioral 

therapy revealed that people who are facing social 

anxiety disorder found significantly low in life 

satisfaction. It is also showed that with the help of 

CBT their anxiety can be reduced and a significant 

result increase in their life satisfaction was measured 

after a series of sessions with patients of social anxiety 

disorders (Eng, W. 2005). 

Furthermore researched are necessary with good 

representative population in general public & for 

developing clinical implications of social anxiety 

disorder. 

 

 

 

 

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Junaid Ahmed 15 

 

©Advance Educational Institute & Research Centre                                                 Annals of Psychophysiology 

www.aeirc-edu.com                                                                                                       Volume 2, December 2015 

 

ISSN 2412-3188 
 

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