Prevalence and possible risk factor of social phobia among male secondary and intermediate school students in Al-Medinah, 2016

Abstract

Background: When prevalence estimated was based on the examination of psychiatric clinic samples, social anxiety disorder was thought to be a relatively rare disorder. The opposite was instead true; social anxiety was common but may be were afraid to seek psychiatric help, leading to an underestimation of the problem. Objectives: To determine the prevalence and possible risk factors of social phobia among intermediate and secondary school male students in Almadinah city. Subjects and methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted included a random representative sample of male students enrolled in intermediate and secondary governmental schools in Al-Madinah city throughout the scholastic year 1436-1437 H (2014-2015).The social phobia Inventory (SPIN) scale was utilized to diagnose social phobia at a cut-off value of 19 whereas the Social Phobia Risk Factors Questionnaire (SPRFQ) was applied to assess risk factors for social phobia. Results: The study included 425 students; 258 were recruited from intermediate schools (60.7%) and the remaining 167 (39.3%) from secondary schools. Their age ranged between 12 and 22 years with a mean of 15.75 and standard deviation of ±1.94 years. Social phobia was identified among 29.5% of intermediate school students compared to 18.6% of secondary school students. The difference was statistically significant, p=0.011.Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that intermediate school students who had close friends with social phobia, those frequently experienced battering, bullying and humiliation, those experienced withdrawal and fear when facing new situation or people at least in the past 6 months. Students who have problems with their fathers and first born students were more significantly like to develop social phobia compared to their counterparts whereas secondary school students who frequently experienced battering, those experienced shyness when facing new situation or people at least in the past 6 months and first born students were more significantly like to develop social phobia compared to their counterparts. Conclusion: The prevalence of social anxiety disorder among the intermediate and secondary school students in Al-Madinah city is high. Important significant risk factors for social phobia have been identified.