Abstract: ObjectiveTo examine the prevalence and influencing factors of social avoidance and distress among college students in Guangzhou city.MethodsA survey on social avoidance and distress was carried out in 1 937 university students selected with cluster sampling.ResultsThe total score of avoidance and distress was 76.92±13.70 for the students and the scores for the students in grade two,three,and four were higher than those of the students of other grades (F=3.579,F=10.162;P<0.05).The students in grade three had the highest avoidance and distress scores of 39.94±5.77 and 39.84±6.52.The students from Hongkong,Macao and Taiwan had a higher social distress score (39.34±8.11)and a higher total score than those of the mainland and overseas students(F=5.999,F=4.184,P<0.05).The students with less monthly maintenance had a heavier social avoidance(F=2.852,P<0.05) and the students with monthly maintenance of 1 500 RMB yuan or more had the lowest score(37.63±7.26).The introvert college students had higher scores of social avoidance(41.36±6.64)and distress(40.54±7.39)than those of the extravert students(t=12 385,t=11.292,P<0.05 for all).The parenting styles affected the status of social avoidance and negative life events were positively correlated with social avoidance and distress among the students.The results of taxonomic tree analyses showed that personality and education levels of the father were main influencing factors of social avoidance and distress among the students and the introvert students with fathers having the education under college level showed the highest scores of social avoidence and distress.ConclusionThe social avoidance and distress are influenced by the grade, monthly manntainance,hometown,peronality,parenting style,education degree of parents,and negative life events among college students.