PREVALENCE AND PSYCHOLOGICAL CORRELATES OF SOCIAL ANXIETY DISORDER AMONG UNIVERSITY STUDENTS IN PESHAWAR

Abstract

The purpose of present study was to investigate the prevalence and psychological correlates of social anxiety disorder among university students. The research was carried out in three phases, in first phase social anxiety disorder was identified in university students, in second phase socially anxious students personality traits and perceived parenting styles was identified, and in third phase non anxious students personality traits and parenting styles were assessed for comparison purpose. A total sample of 500 students in which 250 were male and 250 were females ranging in age 17-25 years with educational background of 1st year to M.sc final year were selected randomly from different rural and urban universities. It was hypothesized that Social anxiety will be high among female students as compared to male students. Parenting style of parents of socially anxious students would be overprotective and rejecting as compared to non-anxious students. Students belonging to rural areas would have more social anxiety as compared to students belonging to urban areas. Liebowitz social anxiety scale, Rosenberg selfesteem scale, introversion scale, shyness scale, and measure of parental style were used to assess social anxiety disorder, self-esteem, introversion, shyness, and perceived parenting style. T-test, chi-square and one way Anova was applied on the result to investigate the significant differences between the two groups. Results confirmed hypotheses; it was found that social anxiety disorder is more among female students and students belonging to rural areas. It was also concluded that socially anxious students rate their parenting style as over control and rejecting. Social anxiety disorder affects personality traits such as shyness, self-esteem, and introversion.