The profiles of social anxiety and impulsivity among college students: differences in aggression

Although previous studies identified a subgroup of social anxiety characterized by high impulsivity, it has not received sufficient attention. The purpose of this study was to explore social anxiety-impulsivity profiles and examine differences in aggression across profiles in a Chinese sample. The latent profile analysis was conducted to identify distinct profiles among 515 college students (53.98% male) based on social anxiety constructs and impulsive behaviors. The results revealed six distinct profiles: low social anxiety-low impulsivity, low social anxiety-high impulsivity, moderate social anxiety-high impulsivity, moderate social anxiety-moderate impulsivity, high social anxiety-low impulsivity, and high social anxiety-high impulsivity. The combination of moderate to high social anxiety and high impulsivity reported more aggression than the other profiles. In contrast, the low social anxiety-low impulsivity subgroup reported the lowest aggression. Current findings provide further evidence for the presence of impulsive social anxiety subtypes and offer novel insights into the mixed results regarding the relationship between social anxiety and aggression.