Prevalence of Social Phobia among Preparatory School Students in Duhok City-Iraq

Background: Social Phobia (SP) is a persistent fear of one or more social or performance situations, associated with anxiety symptoms and the avoidance of these situations. Different prevalence rates were reported in the literature. Objectives: This study aims to identify the prevalence of SP among preparatory school students, socio-demographic characters, and individual symptoms of (SP) and to investigate the effect of SP on the students school performance. Method: One thousand five hundred students were selected randomly from 37 preparatory schools in the town of Duhok and its territories. These students were interviewed using the International Diagnostic Checklist for ICD-10 Social Phobia and their school performance was studied too. Results: The results showed that the prevalence of SP in the preparatory school students is (14.4%). Female students had higher rates than males with ratio of (1.88:1). Higher rates of SP were found in vocational schools (commercial and industrial) and those with low financial income. Eating or speaking in public appeared to be the most common feared situations avoided by the students with SP. The condition did not affect the scholastic achievement of the students. Conclusions: A significant difference was found between the rates of SP and different socio-demographic characters. Social Phobia appeared to have no effect on the students scholastic performance according to the local school evaluations system.