Recreational roleplay and social anxiety: the mediating role of self-esteem, perceived social support and resilience

• Main Author: Lee, Jun Hong
• Other Authors: Annabel Chen Shen-Hsing
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2023
• Subjects: Social sciences::Psychology
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/165897
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Social anxiety is a prevalent disorder characterised by a fear of negative evaluation in social situations. However, traditional treatments of social anxiety often result in high dropout rates and relapse rates. Recreational roleplay, a promotion-focused intervention that aims to enhance an individual’s overall wellbeing while reducing one’s social anxiety, has shown promise in improving Theory of Mind (TOM), self-efficacy, and reduce anxiety. Despite this, the specific mechanisms behind recreational roleplay that produce such beneficial effects have not been investigated, causing a literature gap. It has been theorised that recreational roleplay possesses three main psychosocial processes — identity alteration, scenario building, and the establishment of communitas. This study sought to investigate three related variables (self-esteem, perceived social support, resilience) that are comparable in nature to these psychosocial processes, which also have an inverse relationship with social anxiety. These variables were thus tested as mediators in the relationship between recreational roleplay and social anxiety. A total of 270 participants participated in an online survey, evaluating recreational roleplay experience, overall anxiety symptom severity, self-esteem, resilience and perceived social support. Results found that none of the hypothesized relationships were observed and the potential explanation for these null findings were discussed. Nonetheless, this study highlighted several limitations in light of the less-researched field of recreational roleplay as an intervention. This can then be utilised as a foundation for future studies to further investigate the efficacy of recreational roleplay as an intervention against social anxiety.