The effects of alcohol on safety behaviors in socially anxious individuals

Experimental studies have assessed alcohol's effects on social anxiety using self-reports or physiological indices. This study investigated whether alcohol affected observer-rated "safety behaviors" in a sample of socially anxious participants. it was hypothesized that alcohol would lead to increased eye contact and speaking time, and decreased nervous laughter and latency to respond to questions during a social interaction. Eighty-eight high social anxiety participants were randomly assigned to an alcoholic or nonalcoholic beverage condition and then took part in a videotaped social interaction with a trained confederate. Videos were coded for participant safety behaviors as well as confederate behavior. Alcohol had the hypothesized effect of increasing the length of time participants spent speaking during the interaction. interestingly, confederates interacting with socially anxious participants in the alcohol condition behaved more positively toward them than confederates interacting with control beverage condition participants. Implications for understanding the high comorbidity of social phobia with alcohol use disorders are discussed.