Social Anxiety and Empathy: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Objective: This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to clarify the association between social anxiety and affective (AE) and cognitive empathy (CE). Methods: 1442 studies from PsycINFO, Medline, and EMBASE (inception-January 2020) were systematically reviewed. Included studies (N = 48) either predicted variance in empathy using social anxiety scores or compared empathy scores between socially anxious individuals and a control group. Results: Social anxiety and AE were statistically significantly positively associated, k = 14, r= .103 (95%CI [.003, .203]), z =2.03, p =.043. Sex (QM (2) = 18.79, p< .0001), and type of measures (QM (1 = 7.34, p =.007) moderated the association. Correlations were significant for male samples (rmale= .316, (95%CI [.200, .432])) and studies using self-report measures (rself-report = .162 (95%CI [.070, .254])). Overall, social anxiety and CE were not significantly associated, k=52, r =-.021 (95%CI [-.075, .034]), z= -0.74, p = .459. Sample type moderated the association (QM (1)= 5.03, p