THE PREVALENCE OF SELF-REPORTED SOCIAL ANXIETY DISORDER ON IRANIAN STUDENTS

Social anxiety is a common disorder and has a high comorbidity with other disorders. This study aimed to examine the prevalence of social anxiety among Iranian students (N=960).
The design of this survey was descriptive. The population included all students of Urmia University in the academic year 2014-2015. The number of 960 students was selected through cluster sampling. The participants answered questionnaires on demographic characteristics, fear of negative evaluation, and social interaction anxiety scale. The data were evaluated on the basis of scores located above the cut-off points to examine the prevalence of social anxiety and its associated characteristics as well.
The results showed that 5.2% of students suffered social anxiety. The prevalence of social anxiety in female and male students was determined as 5.5% and 4.7%, respectively. The data analysis showed that female and male students were significantly different in terms of level of social anxiety. In addition, undergraduate students had more social anxiety than graduate students and this difference was also statistically significant. There was no sign of social anxiety among doctoral students. The prevalence of social anxiety was not significantly different between native and nonnative students.
The results of this study were consistent with the results of other studies in terms of the prevalence of social anxiety and socio-demographic characteristics of the studied population.