Articulo 2

Salud Mental 2008;31:189-196

Evaluación de factores asociados a la ansiedad social

Evaluación de factores asociados a la ansiedad social
y a otras psicopatologías en adolescentes
Ihab Zubeidat,1 Antonio Fernández Parra,2 Juan Carlos Sierra,2 José María Salinas2
Artículo original

SUMMARY
Introduction
The study of factors associated with anxiety and social phobia is a subject
of recent interestin mental health. Specifically, shyness in children seems to
act as an early expression of social phobia that may later consolidate into
a clinical entity. The presence of certain psychopathologies and particular
styles of child rearing in parents, are perceived by their children, are
associated with the emergence of social phobia in adolescence. On the
other hand, social anxiety disorder duringadolescence or early adulthood
may predict subsequent depressive disorders. The presence of both disorders
(anxiety and social phobia) during adolescence increases the probability
of suffering from them recurrently in early adulthood. Family structure and
cohesion as well as stressful life events have been found to be associated
with mood disorders during the childhood-youth period. However,studies
conducted with young subjects are scarce, even though understanding the
factors associated to different psychopathologies in the youth has proven
of great value in clinical practice and epidemiology. For this reason, we
attempt to evaluate, in a sample of three groups of adolescents (social
anxiety, other psychopathologies and without psychopathologies) the
possible demographical factors,competences and clinical indexes that
could be associated with the different conditions under consideration.
Methodology
A sample of 1012 adolescents (582 women and 430 men) with an average
age of 15.80 years (SD = 1.48) fulfilled a series of tests to assess
demographical variables, psychosocial competences and clinical indexes.
Results
The difference between the average scores in the Escala de Ansiedaden
Interacción Social —SIAS— was significant for the variables sex and the
school year. Sex and couple relationships significantly affect the probability
of manifesting social anxiety and other psychopathologies, respectively. Some
competences significantly affect the probability of social anxiety, whereas
others affect the probability of developing other psychopathologies. The
majority of the 46clinical indexes assessed demonstrate a significant effect
on the probability of developing both conditions.
Discussion and conclusions
The results indicate that, in line with previous studies, the average
score of women in the SIAS is slightly higher than in men. The

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average score in the SIAS of the young people from formative cycles
was slightly higher than in the subjects from theobligatory secondary
education and high schools. Very few studies have informed on the
differences in social anxiety associated with the educational level.
Women presented significantly higher probability of suffering from
social anxiety than men.
Unexpectedly, adolescents who maintained couple relationships also
showed significantly higher probabilities than the rest of suffering
from otherpsychopathologies. Some psychosocial competences,
especially those related to the situations of social interactions, have
a significant effect on the probability of developing social anxiety,
whereas others (social and behavioural) influence other
psychopathologies. In general and to a large extent, the findings
are coherent and explainable, although some of them are
contradictory. This could be caused bythe difficulty to evaluate the
complex construct of psychosocial competences. The majority of
the evaluated clinical indexes showed a significant effect on the
probability of developing of social anxiety and other
psychopathologies. This effect is more evident in the group of young
people with other psychopathologies than in the group of
adolescents with social anxiety. Previous studies have found...