Background: Social anxiety disorder (SAD), also referred to as social phobia, demonstrates a high prevalenceamong student populations, with particularly elevated rates observed in individuals enrolled in academicallyrigorous programs such as medical colleges. It involves a persistent and excessive fear of social performance andsocial interactions, which can hinder academic, clinical, and interpersonal functioning. Despite its clinicalsignificance, social phobia tends to go unnoticed and untreated among students.Aim: The purpose of this study is to investigate the frequency of social phobia among undergraduate medicalstudents and the factors that may contribute to its development.Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 250 undergraduate medical students. A semi-administeredstructured questionnaire was used for data collection. socio-demographic and Social Phobia Inventory data wascompleted by all participants. Data was analyzed with SPSS 26.0. Binary logistic regression was used to uncoversocial phobia predictors and report adjusted odds ratios (AORs) with 95% CIs.Results: Prevalence of social phobia was 43.6%, and 24.4% had mild, 12.0% had moderate, and 7.2% had severesymptoms. The average SPIN score was 20.12 ± 12.88. Female gender (AOR: 1.98, p = 0.004), rural background(AOR: 1.67, p = 0.038), low maternal education (AOR: 3.25, p = 0.013), humiliation in the past (AOR: 2.40, p =0.001), conflict at home (AOR: 2.60, p = 0.004), and poor parent-adolescent relationships (AOR: 2.10, p = 0.021)had significant associations with increased odds for social phobia.Conclusion: Social phobia is a serious issue among medical undergraduates, with almost half of the studentshaving varying degrees of social anxiety. The results highlight the need for early detection and focused mentalhealth intervention.
Utkarsh et al. (Thu,) studied this question.