Social Anxiety Disorder and Its Correlates among Female Students at Taif University, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Background: Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is highly prevalent among adolescents but little is known about its prevalence in Saudi adolescents. Objectives: we aimed to determine the prevalence of SAD and investigate its associated correlates among Saudi adolescent females. Methods: A cross sectional study design was conducted at Taif university in the period from January to May 2016. A self-report pre-designed questionnaire was distributed to the students about personal factors and Social Phobia Inventory (SPIN) which is a reliable and valid psychometric tool of screening SAD. Results: Data of 957 female students were analyzed and rendered a prevalence of 16.3% for SAD among them. Most of the affected students had a moderate degree of the disorder in 43.5% of cases. Personal factors significantly associated with SAD in univariate analysis were obese weight perception (p <0.001), having body deformities (p = 0.004), insufficient income (p = 0.003), 1st birth order (p = 0.006), parental conflict (p = 0.003), parental death (p <0.001) and smoking (p <0.001). Conclusion and recommendations: Our results show there is a high prevalence of SAD among female university students in Taif, Saudi Arabia. Independent personal factors associated with SAD in our study were smoking, parent death and obese weight perception. Based on the high prevalence encountered in our study, we recommend early detection and intervention to reduce the overall burden associated with this psychiatric disorder in the adolescent population as emphasized by the literature.

The prevalence and correlates of social phobia among undergraduate health science students in Gondar, Gondar Ethiopia

“…On the other hand, the current study finding was higher than those of other studies done in two areas of Saudi Arabia, Canada, Iran, and India, the prevalence was estimated at 14.1%, 16.3%, 7.9%, 17.2%, and 7.8%, respectively [5, 7, 9, 11, 28]. The variations might be the distinctions in sample sizes, measurement tools, rating scales, gender differences, and the socio-cultural contrast between Ethiopia and the other countries.…”

“…The variations might be the distinctions in sample sizes, measurement tools, rating scales, gender differences, and the socio-cultural contrast between Ethiopia and the other countries. In two areas of Saudi Arabia, the sample size was higher than in our study, while the measurement tool was the same [5, 28]. Besides the above differences, in two areas of Saudi Arabia took male and female students in their studies respectively [6, 27].…”

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“…En la subescala bulimia y preocupación por la comida, la media fue 3,3 ± 3,5 y en los participantes en riesgo, el ítem con mayor proporción fue 'Siento que la comida controla mi vida' (64,9%). En la subescala control oral la media fue 5,5 ± 4,2 y en los participantes en riesgo, el ítem con mayor proporción fue 'Muestro autocontrol respecto a la comida' (76,2%) (20) . Kandeger et al (2018), estudiaron con un diseño transversal a 383 estudiantes universitarios en Turquía, con la finalidad de evaluar la presencia de comportamientos alimentarios alterados y determinar su relación con otros factores.…”