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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Psychol.

Sec. Personality and Social Psychology

Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1603001

Exploring the Mediating Role of Virtual Environment Loneliness in the Link between Interpersonal Relationship Styles and Social Anxiety

Provisionally accepted
Mustafa  Batuhan KurtoğluMustafa Batuhan Kurtoğlu1*Kübra  Sezer KatarKübra Sezer Katar2
  • 1Hasan Kalyoncu University, Gaziantep, Gaziantep, Türkiye
  • 2Health Sciences University, Ankara Training and Research Hospital, Ankara, Türkiye

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

Objectives: As technology has transformed social interactions, the study investigates whether virtual communication adequately fulfills individuals' social connection needs. This study explores the relationship between social anxiety, virtual environment loneliness, and interpersonal relationship styles among a diverse sample of 400 participants.The study included 400 participants (N = 400), the majority of whom were female (N = 254, 63.5%) and had at least a bachelor's degree (N = 261; 65%). Participants completed the Environment Loneliness Scale, the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale, and Interpersonal Relationships Scale. Multi-mediation analysis was run to assess the potential mediating role of virtual loneliness.Results showed that an inhibitory relationship style was positively correlated with social anxiety (r = 0.30, p < 0.01), while a nurturing relationship style was negatively correlated (r = -.21, p < 0.01). Mediation analyses revealed that a subdimension of virtual environment loneliness, called virtual sharing, significantly mediated the relationship between inhibitory relationship style and social anxiety. However, no significant indirect effect was observed between nurturing relationship style and social anxiety.In conclusion, the current study provides insight regarding the relationship between interpersonal relationship styles and social anxiety by emphasizing the role of virtual sharing in this association. Successfully managing social interactions is essential for improving individuals' psychological well-being. Future studies should further investigate these relationships to optimize interventions for individuals struggling with social anxiety.

Keywords: inhibitory relationship, nurturing relationship, social anxiety, social interaction, virtual loneliness

Received: 04 Apr 2025; Accepted: 08 Aug 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Kurtoğlu and Sezer Katar. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Mustafa Batuhan Kurtoğlu, Hasan Kalyoncu University, Gaziantep, 27900, Gaziantep, Türkiye

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