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Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Conclusion
According to the results obtained, it can be concluded that the female gender from ages 14-19 are generally more susceptible to social phobia as compared to the male gender from the same age group.
As mentioned in the methodology, the first survey (conducted prior to the survey that had its obtained results used for this research) was invalid. It was mainly because the results obtained from the first survey were inadequate and unable to fulfill the main objective of the research. The initial objective of the research was to find out how social phobia affects self-esteem of people. However, it was found that knowledge on how to measure self-esteem levels of people was required and could not be achieved from the results of the first survey. Professional advice was needed on how measurements of self-esteem levels could be done but this was not accomplished until the survey was conducted. Therefore, a conclusion could not be reached from the obtained results from the first survey. On top of that, the survey could not be improvised as it would be difficult to approach and identify the people with social phobia as it might be a sensitive issue to some of them. As a result, the objective of the research was changed while maintaining its purpose – to help people with social phobia in the society. Refer to Appendix 2 for the results of the first survey.
After finding out that females are more susceptible to social phobia, future possible areas of research would be to find out the reason behind this susceptibility. Another possible area of research would be to find out why adolescents are more prone to social phobia than adults. Lastly, it would be to find ways to cure social phobia, thereby achieving the purpose of the research, which was to help the people with social phobia.
An interesting finding from the results of the second survey is that the most common fear that people have is speaking in public. This corresponds with results from previous researches carried out which showed that public speaking is the most common fear in the world, affecting as much as 75% of the population, even ranked above the fear of death. Further research could thus be conducted to find out how to solve the problem of speaking in public. With the increasing need in today’s world to make presentations and speaking in public, it is important that this fear can be readily overcome. Social phobia is also a mental disorder which people have. Therefore it is just as important to find ways to ensure that social phobia has a cure, and for people to know more about social phobia, so as to understand it and ultimately overcome it.
As mentioned in the methodology, the first survey (conducted prior to the survey that had its obtained results used for this research) was invalid. It was mainly because the results obtained from the first survey were inadequate and unable to fulfill the main objective of the research. The initial objective of the research was to find out how social phobia affects self-esteem of people. However, it was found that knowledge on how to measure self-esteem levels of people was required and could not be achieved from the results of the first survey. Professional advice was needed on how measurements of self-esteem levels could be done but this was not accomplished until the survey was conducted. Therefore, a conclusion could not be reached from the obtained results from the first survey. On top of that, the survey could not be improvised as it would be difficult to approach and identify the people with social phobia as it might be a sensitive issue to some of them. As a result, the objective of the research was changed while maintaining its purpose – to help people with social phobia in the society. Refer to Appendix 2 for the results of the first survey.
After finding out that females are more susceptible to social phobia, future possible areas of research would be to find out the reason behind this susceptibility. Another possible area of research would be to find out why adolescents are more prone to social phobia than adults. Lastly, it would be to find ways to cure social phobia, thereby achieving the purpose of the research, which was to help the people with social phobia.
An interesting finding from the results of the second survey is that the most common fear that people have is speaking in public. This corresponds with results from previous researches carried out which showed that public speaking is the most common fear in the world, affecting as much as 75% of the population, even ranked above the fear of death. Further research could thus be conducted to find out how to solve the problem of speaking in public. With the increasing need in today’s world to make presentations and speaking in public, it is important that this fear can be readily overcome. Social phobia is also a mental disorder which people have. Therefore it is just as important to find ways to ensure that social phobia has a cure, and for people to know more about social phobia, so as to understand it and ultimately overcome it.
Possible causes of girls’ susceptibility to social phobia and suggestions for treatments
1. Adolescent girls tend to be more worried than boys about their peers' negative evaluations of them. Surveys have found that adolescent girls are more concerned than boys about others' judgments of their appearance and behavior (Nolen-Hoeksema & Larson, 1992; Rosen & Aneshensel, 1976).
2. Rates of internalizing problems are higher among girls than boys (Bernstein, Garfinkel, & Hoberman, 1989; Kashani, Orvasehel, Rosenberg, & Reid, 1989; Quay & La Greca, 1986)
3. Recent research showed that adolescents' close friendships are more strongly associated with girls' levels of social phobia than boys'. Specifically, adolescent girls who reported higher levels of social phobia also reported having fewer best friends, feeling less competent in their friendships, and perceiving their friendships as less supportive, less intimate, and lower in companionship. Of the SAS-A (Social Anxiety Scale for Adolescents) subscales, SAD-General was the one most strongly associated with the friendship variables. Although the overall pattern of results was similar for boys and girls, social phobia was generally not significantly related to boys' friendships
4. Gender expectations: Adolescent girls have higher expectations of success than boys in their general academic abilities across domains and in their social skills (American Psychological Association, 1998). Girls have also shown to be more sensitive to failure. As a result, even a mere experience of peer rejection may cause them to develop social phobia.
Suggestions for treatments based on findings
- Teachers who notice that adolescents, especially girls, who find difficulty associating with their peers or doing presentations can approach them and give them personal consultation.
- Parents can give adolescents more exposure to social situations, and build up their socializing skills. They should also pay more attention to their daughters’ feelings and give them support where necessary.
- More talks can be conducted to raise public awareness of the rising prevalence of social phobia in adolescents. The content of these talks should include the symptoms and implications of social phobia, and where adolescents can get help from. In this way, parents, teachers, friends or adolescents themselves who notice that they exhibit signs of social phobia will be able to recognize the severity of social phobia and seek help early.
- Advertisements or billboards (for example those discouraging people from smoking or persuading people who suffer from depression to seek help early) can be used to encourage adolescents with social phobia to seek help
- In addition, to raise awareness about the role of a person’s gender in social phobia, a blog (http://njsocialphobiagroup.blogspot.com) would be set up to allow teenagers to have easy access to information in this area. A discussion board will be part of the blog for them to voice their problems and to raise any queries they might have about the project. In this way, the project will be made more meaningful as teenagers can gain more insights regarding this growing problem.
2. Rates of internalizing problems are higher among girls than boys (Bernstein, Garfinkel, & Hoberman, 1989; Kashani, Orvasehel, Rosenberg, & Reid, 1989; Quay & La Greca, 1986)
3. Recent research showed that adolescents' close friendships are more strongly associated with girls' levels of social phobia than boys'. Specifically, adolescent girls who reported higher levels of social phobia also reported having fewer best friends, feeling less competent in their friendships, and perceiving their friendships as less supportive, less intimate, and lower in companionship. Of the SAS-A (Social Anxiety Scale for Adolescents) subscales, SAD-General was the one most strongly associated with the friendship variables. Although the overall pattern of results was similar for boys and girls, social phobia was generally not significantly related to boys' friendships
4. Gender expectations: Adolescent girls have higher expectations of success than boys in their general academic abilities across domains and in their social skills (American Psychological Association, 1998). Girls have also shown to be more sensitive to failure. As a result, even a mere experience of peer rejection may cause them to develop social phobia.
Suggestions for treatments based on findings
- Teachers who notice that adolescents, especially girls, who find difficulty associating with their peers or doing presentations can approach them and give them personal consultation.
- Parents can give adolescents more exposure to social situations, and build up their socializing skills. They should also pay more attention to their daughters’ feelings and give them support where necessary.
- More talks can be conducted to raise public awareness of the rising prevalence of social phobia in adolescents. The content of these talks should include the symptoms and implications of social phobia, and where adolescents can get help from. In this way, parents, teachers, friends or adolescents themselves who notice that they exhibit signs of social phobia will be able to recognize the severity of social phobia and seek help early.
- Advertisements or billboards (for example those discouraging people from smoking or persuading people who suffer from depression to seek help early) can be used to encourage adolescents with social phobia to seek help
- In addition, to raise awareness about the role of a person’s gender in social phobia, a blog (http://njsocialphobiagroup.blogspot.com) would be set up to allow teenagers to have easy access to information in this area. A discussion board will be part of the blog for them to voice their problems and to raise any queries they might have about the project. In this way, the project will be made more meaningful as teenagers can gain more insights regarding this growing problem.
Data, observation, results
Being introduced to other people
Being teased or criticized
Being the center of attention
Being watched or observed while doing something
Having to speak in public
Meeting people in authority
Attending parties or other social gatherings
Becoming embarrassed
Meeting other people’s eyes
An investigation to substantiate the hypothesis that females are more prone to social phobia than males was done by the means of an online survey. According to the results of the survey, the average percentage of social phobia in males was 39.2% and the average percentage of social phobia in females was 60.7%. The percentage of social phobia was evidently higher in females by (21.5%) than in males. This validates the hypothesis made. The reason for social phobia being more apparent in females could be due to the fact the females are unmistakably more self-conscious about their physical appearance and the image that people perceive them than their male counterparts. Therefore, they are more susceptible to feel uncomfortable in the presence of others. Cultural influences also play a part.
Public speaking was found to be the most common fear, with 95/120 people (79.1%) of the people acknowledging that they possessed this phobia. The people who were selected using stratified sampling also generally recognized being watched or observed while doing something as one of their phobias. Public speaking was the second most common, with 92/120 people (76.6%) possessing it. Thus, it can be inferred that people generally feel more uncomfortable when attention from a large audience is fixed on them.
Improvements could be made for the research to be conducted more successfully. This includes improvising the method employed for conducting the survey. The survey method employed was an online survey. However, as mentioned previously, the disadvantage of an online survey is that respondents might not give honest answers and it is difficult to track the credibility of the respondents. Therefore, a solution to the problem would be to use written surveys. Despite being more time-consuming and cumbersome in terms of collation of results, written surveys would ensure more accurate results as respondents could be observed while doing the survey and it would also be easier to contact respondents for further questioning.
Being teased or criticized
Being the center of attention
Being watched or observed while doing something
Having to speak in public
Meeting people in authority
Attending parties or other social gatherings
Becoming embarrassed
Meeting other people’s eyes
An investigation to substantiate the hypothesis that females are more prone to social phobia than males was done by the means of an online survey. According to the results of the survey, the average percentage of social phobia in males was 39.2% and the average percentage of social phobia in females was 60.7%. The percentage of social phobia was evidently higher in females by (21.5%) than in males. This validates the hypothesis made. The reason for social phobia being more apparent in females could be due to the fact the females are unmistakably more self-conscious about their physical appearance and the image that people perceive them than their male counterparts. Therefore, they are more susceptible to feel uncomfortable in the presence of others. Cultural influences also play a part.
Public speaking was found to be the most common fear, with 95/120 people (79.1%) of the people acknowledging that they possessed this phobia. The people who were selected using stratified sampling also generally recognized being watched or observed while doing something as one of their phobias. Public speaking was the second most common, with 92/120 people (76.6%) possessing it. Thus, it can be inferred that people generally feel more uncomfortable when attention from a large audience is fixed on them.
Improvements could be made for the research to be conducted more successfully. This includes improvising the method employed for conducting the survey. The survey method employed was an online survey. However, as mentioned previously, the disadvantage of an online survey is that respondents might not give honest answers and it is difficult to track the credibility of the respondents. Therefore, a solution to the problem would be to use written surveys. Despite being more time-consuming and cumbersome in terms of collation of results, written surveys would ensure more accurate results as respondents could be observed while doing the survey and it would also be easier to contact respondents for further questioning.
Methodology
Online surveys and an interview with a psychologist were conducted to justify the hypothesis of the research. Results obtained from one of the surveys were inadequate and could not be used to draw any conclusion. Thus, the survey was thus deemed as void. (Refer to Appendix 2). The purpose of the interview was to obtain a professional’s opinion concerning social phobia. The second survey was validated against the interview with the psychologist and an established social phobia scale, Social Anxiety Scale for Adolescents (SAS-A), as well as the diagnostic criteria for social phobia corresponding to *DSM-IV. Stratified sampling was employed to collect response from a fixed number of people from a specific age group. The respondents were grouped into four different categories: females aged 14-16, males aged 14-16, females aged 17-19 and males aged 17-19. 30 people were surveyed for each category. Difference in susceptibility to social phobia due to different ages could be probable and this would affect the reliability of the results obtained. Categorization was done so as to ensure accuracy of the survey results.
The reason for conducting surveys was to obtain statistical information to substantiate the hypothesis of the research. Online surveys were chosen over telephone and postal surveys due to their wide coverage, convenience, easier analysis and low budget. In addition, they allow for a larger sample size, and thus results obtained would be across the board, ensuring accuracy and suitability for the research. Biasness that could ensue from telephone surveys was minimized and response time would be faster as compared to postal surveys. The limitation of online survey was that respondents might not give honest responses and it would be difficult to track the credibility of the respondents.
Following the completion of surveys, results were tabulated in a table and shown in the form of pie charts. The gender that is more susceptible to social phobia was then determined.
The reason for conducting surveys was to obtain statistical information to substantiate the hypothesis of the research. Online surveys were chosen over telephone and postal surveys due to their wide coverage, convenience, easier analysis and low budget. In addition, they allow for a larger sample size, and thus results obtained would be across the board, ensuring accuracy and suitability for the research. Biasness that could ensue from telephone surveys was minimized and response time would be faster as compared to postal surveys. The limitation of online survey was that respondents might not give honest responses and it would be difficult to track the credibility of the respondents.
Following the completion of surveys, results were tabulated in a table and shown in the form of pie charts. The gender that is more susceptible to social phobia was then determined.
Literature review
Social phobia (also known as social anxiety disorder) has been recently recognized as a prevalent and severe disorder, especially among adolescents. Studies have also shown that it has both immediate and long-term implications for academic, social and emotional functioning. With the recognition that this disorder can result in severe lifetime impairment, both pharmacologic and psychosocial interventions for youth with social phobia are now beginning to be developed, and their efficacy, to be determined. (Maryland Center for Anxiety Disorders, 2001)
Several researches addressed the problem of insufficient and limited studies concerning the treatment of social phobia. The research centers include the Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, USA, University of Manitoba, Canada, the Department of Family Medicine, University of Michigan Medical School, USA, and the Department of Psychology, State University of New York, USA. It was stated that the study of efficacious pharmacologic treatments with childhood anxiety disorders is limited at this time (Maryland Center for Anxiety Disorders, 2001) and there has been little or no known available effective treatment (Journal of Psychopharmacology, 2000, p.14). In addition, despite being one of the most prevalent disorders of childhood and adolescence, social phobia paradoxically stands as one of the least recognized, researched, and treated pediatric disorders (Clinical child and psychology review, 2001, p.37).
To date, research on the factors contributing to youngsters' anxiety disorders has focused largely on family and biological variables. Gender differences have received much less attention from researchers, despite findings from previous studies showing that social phobia may be influenced by gender. These studies include the study conducted by Department of Neuroscience, Psychiatry, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden (2007) and the study conducted by Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Canada (2005). Studies were conducted on the people with social phobia as a whole, and not categorized by gender. Further exploration of the potential role of social anxiety as a mediator between gender differences and the development of clinically significant anxiety disorders in children and adolescents would be of substantial interest (Ginsburg, La Greca, & Silverman, 1998; Silverman & Ginsburg, 1995).
This research was therefore conducted to investigate and determine the gender that is more susceptible to social phobia. The results and findings from this research can lead to further researches that will look into the causes of this gender difference. Subsequently, new treatments can be devised to help the people with social phobia. An example will be as follows:
According to a research conducted by Department of Psychiatry, Croatia (2003), neurobiological basis of the treatment of social phobia has not been explored yet. Recent brain-imaging research has indicated that people who frequently experience social anxiety have an overactive amygdala which controls one’s fear response and an underactive prefrontal cortex. (Ellen Jaffe-Gill, M.A, Melinda Smith, Heather Larson, and Jeanne Segal, Ph.D., 2006) A research can thus be conducted to find out whether and in what way gender plays a part in the functioning of amygdala. Consequently, neurobiological treatment can be devised for people with social phobia.
Several researches addressed the problem of insufficient and limited studies concerning the treatment of social phobia. The research centers include the Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, USA, University of Manitoba, Canada, the Department of Family Medicine, University of Michigan Medical School, USA, and the Department of Psychology, State University of New York, USA. It was stated that the study of efficacious pharmacologic treatments with childhood anxiety disorders is limited at this time (Maryland Center for Anxiety Disorders, 2001) and there has been little or no known available effective treatment (Journal of Psychopharmacology, 2000, p.14). In addition, despite being one of the most prevalent disorders of childhood and adolescence, social phobia paradoxically stands as one of the least recognized, researched, and treated pediatric disorders (Clinical child and psychology review, 2001, p.37).
To date, research on the factors contributing to youngsters' anxiety disorders has focused largely on family and biological variables. Gender differences have received much less attention from researchers, despite findings from previous studies showing that social phobia may be influenced by gender. These studies include the study conducted by Department of Neuroscience, Psychiatry, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden (2007) and the study conducted by Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Canada (2005). Studies were conducted on the people with social phobia as a whole, and not categorized by gender. Further exploration of the potential role of social anxiety as a mediator between gender differences and the development of clinically significant anxiety disorders in children and adolescents would be of substantial interest (Ginsburg, La Greca, & Silverman, 1998; Silverman & Ginsburg, 1995).
This research was therefore conducted to investigate and determine the gender that is more susceptible to social phobia. The results and findings from this research can lead to further researches that will look into the causes of this gender difference. Subsequently, new treatments can be devised to help the people with social phobia. An example will be as follows:
According to a research conducted by Department of Psychiatry, Croatia (2003), neurobiological basis of the treatment of social phobia has not been explored yet. Recent brain-imaging research has indicated that people who frequently experience social anxiety have an overactive amygdala which controls one’s fear response and an underactive prefrontal cortex. (Ellen Jaffe-Gill, M.A, Melinda Smith, Heather Larson, and Jeanne Segal, Ph.D., 2006) A research can thus be conducted to find out whether and in what way gender plays a part in the functioning of amygdala. Consequently, neurobiological treatment can be devised for people with social phobia.
Monday, October 15, 2007
Purpose of project
It was to determine the gender which is more susceptible to social phobia of youths from ages 14-19, as insufficient research that had been done to date on the relationship between gender and social phobia. Itmay be an important factor that can lead to more findings about cures for social phobia. Since adolescents’ girls have proven to be more vulnerable than boys to feelings of social phobia, this can have implications for their social functioning. Therefore, causes for the gender differences and treatments were suggested based on the results obtained from the survey and clinical interview to help adolescents with social phobia.
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