This research examines the influence of individual characteristics (gender, socioeconomic status, type of institution attended) on social anxiety and self-esteem in adolescence. The study concerns 177 pupils attending middle schools, academic secondary schools and vocational secondary schools in France. To measure social anxiety, we used Mallet’s (2002) questionnaire. Self-esteem was measured using the French adaptation of Harter’s (1988) Self-Perception Profile for Adolescents (SPPA) made by Bouffard et al. (2002). Several multiple regression models were tested to assess the impact of the target variables on self-esteem and on anxiety. The results show significant differences according to gender and socioeconomic status.