Prevalence of Social Anxiety and Its Associated Factors Among School-Going Adolescents of Butwal Sub Metropolitan City

Abstract

Introduction: Social Anxiety is a common and serious mental health problem among adolescents across the globe. Social anxiety symptoms if it goes beyond the threshold level it may cause social anxiety disorder which is a serious mental health issue among adolescents and youths. Despite being a serious issue among adolescents, much attention is not given in our country. The main objective of the study was to determine the prevalence of social anxiety and its associated factors among school-going adolescents of Butwal Sub Metropolitan City.

Methods: A school-based cross-sectional study among 390 school-going adolescent students aged 10 to 19 was done using a validated Nepali version of the Social Anxiety Scale for Adolescents (SAS-A) with a cutoff point ≥ 50 to measure social anxiety. Descriptive statistics like frequency, mean, median, and standard deviation were calculated. The association between social anxiety and independent variables was considered significant when p value was < 0.05, which was assessed by bivariate analysis.

Results: Among a total of 390 adolescent students, about half (49.7%, CI: 0.45-0.54) of the adolescents had social anxiety in the study area.

Conclusions: The findings highlight the considerable prevalence of social anxiety among school-going adolescents in the study area. There is a need for social support from parents, and friends for adolescents' especially early adolescents.