The prevalence of social phobia among students of Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences, Iran, and its relation with personality traits in 2013

Background: Social phobia is a pervasive and debilitating disorder, with relatively high prevalence, which is affected by different variables and influences many aspects of human life. This study was carried out with the aim to determine the relationship between social anxiety and personality dimensions among students of Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences, Iran, in 2013. Materials and Methods: The study population included all students of Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences in 2013. The sample volume was estimated utilizing Cochran’s formula as 284 individuals. The participants were chosen through stratified random sampling method from among the statistical population. Participants answered the Social Phobia Inventory (SPIN) designed by Connor et al.‎, which evaluates social phobia and its components that are fear, avoidance, and physiological signs, and the NEO Personality ‎Inventory (NEO PI-R) which evaluates five personality traits. The data were analyzed using the Pearson correlation, ANOVA, independent t-test, and multivariate regression. Results: The prevalence of social phobia among the subjects, except in mild cases, was 58.5%, of which, 19.4% suffered from severe social phobia and 10.2% from very severe social phobia. Among personality dimensions, neuroticism had a direct meaningful relation with social phobia and its aspects. In addition, extraversion, agreeableness, openness to experience, and conscientiousness were inversely associated with social phobia. The personality dimensions of neuroticism and openness to experience were effective predictors of social phobia. Conclusions: The results are indicative of the high prevalence of social phobia among medical students. They also suggest that social phobia and its dimensions have a direct meaningful relation with neuroticism personality dimension. Neuroticism and agreeableness personality dimensions had the necessary power to predict social phobia.