Reinforcement Sensitivity and Social Anxiety in Combat Veterans.

OBJECTIVE: The present study tested the hypothesis that low behavioral approach system (BAS) sensitivity is associated with social anxiety in combat veterans.

METHOD: Self-report measures of reinforcement sensitivity, combat exposure, social interaction anxiety, and social observation anxiety were administered to 197 Iraq/Afghanistan combat veterans.

RESULTS: As expected, combat exposure, behavioral inhibition system (BIS) sensitivity, and fight-flight-freeze system (FFFS) sensitivity were positively associated with both social interaction anxiety and social observation anxiety. In contrast, BAS sensitivity was negatively associated with social interaction anxiety only. An analysis of the BAS subscales revealed that the Reward Responsiveness subscale was the only BAS subscale associated with social interaction anxiety. BAS-Reward Responsiveness was also associated with social observation anxiety.

CONCLUSION: The findings from the present research provide further evidence that low BAS sensitivity may be associated with social anxiety over and above the effects of BIS and FFFS sensitivity.