The prevalence of social phobia among students aged between 12-16 and affecting factors

This research has been carried out as a segmental analytic study to identify the prevalence(and the influencing factors)of social phobia among secondary and high school students. The study was implemented in randomly chosen 4 secondary and 4 high schools in the academic year of 2015- 2016in thecentral districts of Adana between April 2016 and May 2016. Totally 463 students, including 233 girls and 230 boys, among 6, 7, 8 grades ofsecondary schools and 9, 10 grades of high schools were included in the study. Data collecting methods include individual information form, prepared by the researcher, which consists of socio-demographic variables, Çapa Social Phobia Scale for children and adolescents (ÇSPSA) and Beck Anxiety Scale (BAS). Diagnoses were made through face-to-face interviews .In accordance with the results, 13.6 percent of students were diagnosedas social phobia.8.2 percent of female students and 5.4 percent of male students were diagnosed with more social phobia. Students diagnosed with social phobia were found to have higher levels of anxiety then the others. Social phobia was found to be effective on the academic success. Social phobia is a disorder prevalent through adolescents and affects the mental development and the quality of life, considerably. The early recognition and treatmentmay enhance the life-quality of students and help them grow healthy. Key words: Social phobia, prevalence, secondary school high school student