Social Phobia


Study results from Turku University update understanding of social phobia



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This article was published in Mental Health Weekly Digest, which you can subscribe to online.
2007 OCT 1 -- According to recent research from Turku, Finland, "Social phobia (SP) has onset during early adolescence, and is associated with significant impairment in social and educational functioning of adolescents. Therefore, valid and easy-to-use tools for screening and identification of SP among adolescent community populations are needed."

"We investigated both construct and discriminative validity, and screening properties of the 17-item Social Phobia Inventory (SPIN) relative to SP diagnoses based on a semi-structured clinical interview (K-SADS-PL), in a sample of 752 12 to 17-year-old Finnish students from general population. The SPIN demonstrated good properties to differentiate adolescents with SP and those with sub-clinical SP symptoms (SSP), from adolescents without SP. The SPIN also differentiated adolescents with SP from those with depressive and disruptive disorders. In this sample 27% of participants scored above the previously suggested SPIN cut-off (15 points) for adolescent SP We suggest using a somewhat higher cut-off score, 24 points, when using the SPIN as a screen for SP in general adolescent populations. This cut-off score resulted in a sensitivity of 81.2%, a specificity of 85. 1%, a positive predictive value of 26.9%, and a negative predictive value of 98.6% in relation to the SP diagnosis in our sample. To screen for both SP and SSP, 19 points as a cut-off score produced satisfactory diagnostic efficiency statistics," wrote K. Ranta and colleagues, Turku University.

The researchers concluded: "The SPIN appears to have good properties for screening and identification of adolescent SP."

Ranta and colleagues published their study in European Psychiatry (Screening social phobia in adolescents from general population: The validity of the Social Phobia Inventory (SPIN) against a clinical interview. European Psychiatry, 2007;22(4):244-251).

For additional information, contact K. Ranta, Turku University Hospital, Dept. of Adolescent Psychiatry, Kunnallissairaalantie 20, FIN-20700 Turku, Finland.

Publisher contact information for the journal European Psychiatry is: Elsevier France-Editions Scientifiques Medicales Elsevier, 23 Rue Linois, 75724 Paris, France.

Keywords: Finland, Turku, Anxiety, Phobic Disorders, Psychiatry, Social Phobias, Turku University.

This article was prepared by Mental Health Weekly Digest editors from staff and other reports. Copyright 2007, Mental Health Weekly Digest via NewsRx.com.