Fig. 3

Symptom Network of 8 symptoms related to selective mutism (M1–M10) and 3 symptoms related to social anxiety disorder (S1–S3) for the subsample of n = 373; Nodes represent symptoms and edges represent connections between symptoms (the thickness of the edges represents the connection strength). Different colors of nodes represent different communities (M10 is the only symptom from the SM questionnaire that falls in a common community with SAD-related symptoms). All items have a dichotomous data format (symptoms of the DISYPS-III were dichotomized to ensure comparability). Included symptoms: M1 = silence; M2 = reduced speech; M3 = incapacity of nonverbal communication; M4 = motor inhibition; M7 = avoidance of eye-contact; M8 = suppression of noises; M9 = avoidance of verbal situations; M10 = selectivity of speaking behavior; S1 = fear of performance situations, S2 = fear of interactions with unknown children, S3 = fear of interactions with unknown adults