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.