Social phobia and plasma cortisol levels among college students

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.