Abstract: ObjectiveTo explore the prevalence of social phobia in college students and to analyze relationships between social phobia and anxiety trait, general self-efficacy,cognitive style,and plasma cortisol levels among college students.MethodsWith matched case-control study,39 college students with social phobia and 48 healthy controls were investigated with the Social Anxiety Subscale of the Self-Consciousness Scale(SASS),State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI),Cognitive Appraisal Orientation Test(CAOT)and General Self-efficacy Scale(GSES).The levels of plasma cortisol of the subjects were detected.ResultsThe prevalence of social phobia was 4.3% among 908 subjects.Compared with healthy controls,higher scores of SASS(13.2±5.4 vs 7.6±4.1,t=7.32),SATI-S(51.4±8.3 vs 33.2±5.4, t=17.42),SAT-IT(9.3±3.7 vs 4.5±3.1,t=10.27)and lower scores of GSES(22.3±6.7 vs 27.5±5.8,t=-3.98), were observed in colle e students with social phobia(P<0.01).There was a higher level of plasma cortisol(387.4±54.6 vs 264.3±48.5 μg/L,t=11.22)in the students with social phobia than in healthy contro ls(P<0.01).Correlation analysis showed significantly positive correlations between severity of social phobia and level of SATI,pessimism and plasma cortisol(r=0.319-0.418,P<0.05),significantly neg tive correlation between severity of social phobia and level of GSES and optimism(r=-0.427,r=-0.435,P<0.01),significantly positive correlation between level of GSES and optimism (r=0.503,P<0.01),and negative correlation between level of GSES and anxiety trait(r=-0.352,P<0.01).ConclusionSocial phobia in college students may correlate with anxiety trait, cognitive style,general self-efficacy,and level of plasma cortisol.