The epidemiology of social phobia: findings from the Duke Epidemiological Catchment Area Study

Social phobia was studied in a North Carolina community, using DSM-III criteria. Two kinds of comparison were made: social phobia v. non-social phobia, and comorbid social phobia v. non-comorbid social phobia. Six-month and lifetime prevalence rates were 2·7 and 3·8% respectively. Social phobia had...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Psychological medicine 1993-08, Vol.23 (3), p.709-718
Main Authors: Davidson, J. R. T., Hughes, D. L., George, L. K., Blazer, D. G.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Adult and adolescent clinical studies
Age Factors
Age of Onset
Anxiety disorders. Neuroses
Biological and medical sciences
Comorbidity
Educational Status
Employment
Epidemiology
Family
Female
Health Status
Humans
Male
Medical sciences
Mental Disorders - complications
Middle Aged
Mothers - psychology
North Carolina
Original Articles
Patient Acceptance of Health Care
Phobic Disorders - complications
Phobic Disorders - epidemiology
Phobic Disorders - etiology
Prevalence
Prognosis
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
Sex Factors
Social phobia
Social Support
Socialization
Socioeconomic Factors
United States - epidemiology
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Social phobia was studied in a North Carolina community, using DSM-III criteria. Two kinds of comparison were made: social phobia v. non-social phobia, and comorbid social phobia v. non-comorbid social phobia. Six-month and lifetime prevalence rates were 2·7 and 3·8% respectively. Social phobia had an early onset, lasted a long time and rarely recovered. Predictors of good outcome recovery in a logistic regression analysis were onset of phobia after age 11, absence of psychiatric comorbidity and greater education. The disorder was often missed in medical consultation. Increased rates of psychiatric comorbidity existed, especially for other anxiety disorders and for schizophrenia/schizophreniform disorder. There was increased risk of neurological disorder. Social phobia was also associated with an increased rate of suicide attempts, antisocial behaviour and impaired school performance during adolescence, impaired medical health, increased health-seeking behaviour, poor employment performance, reduced social interaction and impaired social support. Comorbidity accounted for some, but not all observed differences.
ISSN:0033-2917
1469-8978
DOI:10.1017/S0033291700025484