Introduction
Adolescence is one of the most sensitive and pervasive periods of human life, as many personality and identity changes happen in this period and it is a new opportunity to make positive and enduring changes in human personality. Therefore, it will leave serious personality consequences if there are serious psychological problems in teenagers. Social anxiety is one of the human issues, especially in adolescents, which has many destructive and interfering effects on the development of adolescents, including the formation of their identity and personality. 
Social anxiety, as one of the social, mental, emotional, and social health problems of adolescents, causes adolescents to be afraid of meeting strangers and being evaluated by them, and to experience severe anxiety. They avoid such situations or tolerate them with great anxiety and are also afraid of being evaluated and ridiculed. Adolescents with social anxiety have fewer social interactions than their peers, feel many problems in dealing with the demands of the environment and society, and are less adaptable to the environment. According to published statistics, the frequency and prevalence of social anxiety in teenagers and young adults is 19% to 33%, and in adults, between 3% to 13%. Previous studies have pointed to several factors in the experience of social anxiety by teenagers, among which the role of attachment styles and psychological functions, such as ego strength and mentalization, play a significant role. Accordingly, this research predicts social anxiety based on attachment styles, mental capacity, and ego strength in teenage students of Qazvin City, Iran.

Methods
This was a correlational study. The population investigated in the present study includes all teenage girls and boys in the 8, 9, 10 and 11 grades of Qazvin City, Iran, who were selected using the multi-stage stratified sampling method. The number of samples was obtained by the Cochran formula of 380 people, of which 152 girls and 165 boys remained after the drop of subjects. The reason for the dropout of the subjects was that the questionnaires were not completed, or they were distorted, or complete demographic information was not mentioned. In this research, data collection was done by completing the Connoer social anxiety questionnaire, Hazen and Shaver [25] attachment style questionnaire, psychological ego strength questionnaire, and reflective function questionnaire. To analyze the data, multiple regression was carried out using the SPSS software, version 26.

Results
The results of multiple linear regression (F=27.28, P<0.001) showed that the variables in the model altogether explain 42.8% of the variance of social anxiety. According to the results of Table 1, ego strength (β=-0.281, P<0.001) and secure attachment style (β=0.167, P=0.003) had a negative and significant relationship with social anxiety.


Avoidant insecure attachment style (β=0.229, P<0.001) and ambivalent insecure attachment style (β=0.324, P<0.001) had a positive and significant relationship with social anxiety. Also, the dimensions of mentalization, such as certainty (β=0.069, P=0.302) and uncertainty (β=0.115, P=0.095), had no significant relationship with social anxiety in the regression model. Although the examination of the relationship between mentalization and social anxiety using Pearson correlation coefficient showed a positive and significant relationship between social anxiety and mentalization (certainty (P<0.001, r=0.279) and uncertainty (r=0.320, P>0.001). Also, the relationship between ego strength and mentalization using the Pearson correlation coefficient showed a negative and significant relationship between ego strength and mentalization in the dimension of certainty (P<0.001, r=-0.237) and a positive and significant relationship in the dimension of uncertainty (P>0.0001, r=0.291).

Conclusion
Attachment styles and ego strength can predict social anxiety in adolescents. In other words, if there is a combination of secure attachment style with high ego strength in teenagers, the experience of social anxiety in teenagers is lower, and vice versa. Many psychological functions in the form of the ego develop in the context of a secure emotional relationship with or a secure attachment to the mother.  The child builds their ego by using the mechanism of identification with the mother’s psychological functions. Therefore, the existence of a safe and strong mother, in other words, the existence of a relationship based on secure attachment, is important in the development of a strong ego. The mentalization capacity alone is related to social anxiety; in other words, the greater the mentalization ability of teenagers, the less social anxiety they experience, especially when teenagers are certain of this capacity, but mentalization in combination with attachment styles and ego strength does not play an important role in predicting social anxiety. Mentalization capacity is considered a type of psychological function. Functionally, it can be among the functions of the ego. This is why this study examined the relationship between mentalization and ego strength. Meanwhile, there is a significant relationship between mentalization and ego strength. Accordingly, adolescents with higher ego strength tend to exhibit greater certainty about their own and others’ mental states, demonstrating stronger mentalizing abilities, whereas those with weaker ego strength typically show lower levels of mentalization. As a result, in combination with ego strength under the influence of the ego variable, mentalizing ability loses its significant relationship with social anxiety. However, it may imply a mediating relationship between ego strength and social anxiety.

Ethical Considerations
Compliance with ethical guidelines
 This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Qazvin University of Medical Sciences (Code: IR.QUMS.REC.1403.003).

Funding
This article was extracted from the master's thesis of Masoumeh Eissazadeh at the Faculty of Humanities, Allameh Qazvini Higher Education Institute. This research did not receive any grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or non-profit sectors. 

Authors contributions
Conceptualization, Supervision, Data analysis, Investigation, Writing: Mahmoud Bahramkhani; Writing, Literature review, Data collection: Masoumeh Eisazadeh.

Conflicts of interest
The authors declared no conflict of interest.

Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank all participants for their cooperation in this study.


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