P31: The Relationship of Self-Esteem and Social Anxiety with Mental Health in Adolescents: The Role of Mediator Variables

According to studies, self-esteem plays an important role in mental health. Self-esteem is also one of the most important correlates of anxiety, especially social anxiety. Being anxiety in adolescents make negative impacts on their academic performance, mental health and social function. This study aims to investigate the relationship between self-esteem and mental health, according to the mediator role of social anxiety in adolescents. The present study is cross-sectional and correlational. The statistical population is from the guidance and high school students in Shiraz in 2013-2014 that 180 students include 101 girls and 79 boys were selected by cluster sampling. The age range of subjects was 12-18 years and the mean age was 15.4. The instruments used in this study were the general health questionnaire (GHQ), Rosenberg's self-esteem questionnaire and social anxiety scale for adolescents (SASA). Data were analyzed using correlation and regression. There is a significant relationship between mental health and self-esteem (r= -0.368, P<0.01). The relationship between mental health and social anxiety is also significant (r=0.213, P<0.01). There is a significant relationship between self-esteem and social anxiety (r=-0.453, P<0.01). Hierarchical regression shows that the variable of social anxiety in the relationship between self-esteem and mental health plays a mediator role. This study shows the role of self-esteem and social anxiety in adolescents' mental health. The relationships between the variables of the study indicate that social anxiety in the relationship between self-esteem and mental health plays a mediator role. So, low self-esteem causes social anxiety to rise and increasing social anxiety makes mental health to reduce. On the other hand, high self-esteem reduces social anxiety, in turn reducing social anxiety is associated with increasing the level of mental health.