The purpose of this research is to confirm the moderation effect of self-efficacy in the correlation between post-event rumination and social anxiety among middle school students. For this research, 530 middle school students who are enrolled in Gyeonggi-do and Gyeongsangnam-do were surveyed, and their responses were statistically analyzed. Result is the following: First, the post-event rumination has a strong, positive correlation with the social anxiety while it has a negative correlation with the self-efficacy. The self-efficacy shows a negative correlation with the social anxiety. Second, the moderation effect of the self-efficacy in the correlation between the post-event rumination and the social anxiety is shown to be significant. As the self-efficacy increased, the effect of post-event rumination on the social anxiety decreased. Third, while the mentioned moderation effect is shown to be significant.
Thus, the social self-efficacy affects the correlation between the post-event rumination and the social anxiety. The result can be inferred that the post-event rumination only occurs in situations related to the performance and the social interaction. Therefore, a variety of educational support that can improve the social self-efficacy and counseling strategies may help reduce the social anxiety of middle school students.