Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry
New researchSocial Phobia and Subtypes in the National Comorbidity Survey–Adolescent Supplement: Prevalence, Correlates, and Comorbidity
Section snippets
Sample and Procedure
The National Comorbidity Survey Replication–Adolescent Supplement (NCS-A) is a nationally representative face-to-face survey of 10,123 adolescents 13 to 18 years of age in the continental United States.20 Information concerning the sampling strategy, participation rates, and instruments in the NCS-A can be found in greater detail elsewhere.21, 22 The survey was carried out in a dual-frame sample that included a household subsample (n = 879) and a school subsample (n = 9,244).21 The adolescent
Prevalence and Correlates
The lifetime prevalence and sociodemographic correlates of social phobia are presented overall and by subtype in Table 1. As is shown, 8.6% of adolescents met criteria for any social phobia in their lifetime. Prevalence rates by subtype indicated that 4.8% of adolescents met criteria for the generalized subtype, corresponding to 55.8% of all adolescents with social phobia. By contrast, 3.8% of adolescents did not meet criteria for the generalized subtype (displayed as nongeneralized), equaling
Discussion
Results of this nationally representative study of adolescents indicate that social phobia is a highly prevalent, persistent, and impairing mental disorder among adolescent youth, closely resembling the magnitude and severity of this condition among adults.3, 4, 5, 33 In addition, findings suggest that, although the performance-only subtype of social phobia appears to be quite rare among adolescents, generalized social phobia is a common and clinically relevant form of social phobia in this
References (47)
- et al.
Anxiety and anxiety disorders in children and adolescents: developmental issues and implications for DSM-V
Psychiatr Clin North Am
(2009) - et al.
Size and burden of social phobia in Europe
Eur Neuropsychopharmacol
(2005) - et al.
Frequency and comorbidity of social phobia and social fears in adolescents
Behav Res Ther
(1999) - et al.
A new proposal for the subtypes of social phobia in a sample of Spanish adolescents
J Anxiety Disord
(2008) - et al.
Social fear and social phobia types among community youth: differential clinical features and vulnerability factors
J Psychiatr Res
(2011) - et al.
Course and outcome of anxiety disorders in adolescents
J Anxiety Disord
(2002) - et al.
A prospective study of childhood anxiety disorders
J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry
(1996) - et al.
Lifetime prevalence of mental disorders in U.S. adolescents: results from the National Comorbidity Survey Replication–Adolescent Supplement (NCS-A)
J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry
(2010) - et al.
National comorbidity survey replication adolescent supplement (NCS-A): IIIConcordance of DSM-IV/CIDI diagnoses with clinical reassessments
J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry
(2009) - et al.
Service utilization for lifetime mental disorders in U.S. adolescents: results of the National Comorbidity Survey–Adolescent Supplement (NCS-A)
J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry
(2011)
Are social fears and DSM-IV social anxiety disorder associated with smoking and nicotine dependence in adolescents and young adults?
Eur Psychiatry
Subtypes of social phobia and comorbidity with depression and other anxiety disorders
J Affect Disord
Assessing the validity of social anxiety disorder subtypes using a nationally representative sample
J Anxiety Disord
Incidence of social anxiety disorder and the consistent risk for secondary depression in the first three decades of life
Arch Gen Psychiatry
Epidemiology and natural course of social fears and social phobia
Acta Psychiatr Scand Suppl
Social fears and social phobia in a community sample of adolescents and young adults: prevalence, risk factors and co-morbidity
Psychol Med
Social phobia in Finnish general adolescent population: prevalence, comorbidity, individual and family correlates, and service use
Depress Anxiety
The DSM-IV rates of child and adolescent disorders in Puerto Rico: prevalence, correlates, service use, and the effects of impairment
Arch Gen Psychiatry
Social phobia in Swedish adolescents: prevalence and gender differences
Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol
Prevalence and development of psychiatric disorders in childhood and adolescence
Arch Gen Psychiatry
Frequency of panic attacks and panic disorder in adolescents
Depress Anxiety
What do childhood anxiety disorders predict?
J Child Psychol Psychiatry
The risk for early-adulthood anxiety and depressive disorders in adolescents with anxiety and depressive disorders
Arch Gen Psychiatry
Cited by (154)
Risk profiles of social anxiety for interpersonal difficulties in a sample of Spanish adolescents
2024, Revista de PsicodidacticaAdolescents' experience of receiving internet-delivered cognitive therapy for social anxiety disorder
2023, Internet InterventionsThe Course of Anxiety-Specific Cognitive Bias Following Daycare/Inpatient Treatment in Youths with Social Phobia and School Absenteeism
2024, Zeitschrift fur Kinder- und Jugendpsychiatrie und Psychotherapie
The National Comorbidity Survey-Adolescent Supplement (NCS-A) is supported by the National Institute of Mental Health (U01-MH60220) and the National Institute of Drug Abuse (R01 DA016558) with supplemental support from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF; 044708), and the John W. Alden Trust. The NCS-A was carried out in conjunction with the World Health Organization World Mental Health (WMH) Survey Initiative.
This work was supported by the Intramural Research Program of the National Institute of Mental Health. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and should not be construed to represent the views of any of the sponsoring organizations, agencies, or U.S. government.
Disclosure: Drs. Burstein, Albano, Avenevoli, and Merikangas, and Ms. He and Ms. Kattan report no biomedical financial interests or potential conflicts of interest.