Original ArticleAsthma and Social Anxiety in Adolescents
Section snippets
Methods
Participants were 765 adolescents from 2 urban, Catholic high schools. Their mean age was 15.2 years (SD, 0.79); 76.9% were female. Most were Caucasian (87.0%). The grade distribution was 33.6% ninth graders, 48.3% 10th graders, and 18.1% 11th graders. Data were obtained as part of a school-wide social anxiety screening for a controlled trial evaluating the efficacy of a cognitive-behavioral intervention for high school students with SAD.14 Procedures were approved by the New York University
Social anxiety
SAS-A total scores ranged from 18 to 90, with a mean of 37.3 (SD, 11.9). SPAI-C total scores ranged from 0 to 44, with a mean of 11.0 (SD, 7.6). Overall, 13.7% and 15.6% of the sample reported clinically significant social anxiety on the SAS-A and SPAI-C, respectively, as indicated by the recommended cutoff points (50 for SAS-A and 18 for SPAI-C).
Asthma diagnosis and severity
Having an asthma diagnosis was reported by 18.6% of the sample, and 11.2% of the sample had current asthma (ie, a diagnosis and current symptoms).
Discussion
We examined the relation between social anxiety and asthma in adolescents. Consistent with results from a community sample that found no relationship between a history of asthma attacks and social phobia,26 we found no differences in reports of social anxiety by asthma diagnosis. However, adolescents with current asthma (ie, a diagnosis and current asthma symptoms) endorsed higher levels of social anxiety on the SAS-A than peers without asthma. More specifically, teenagers with an asthma
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C.M.W. received funding from the National Institutes of Mental Health (5K23MH065373). J.-M.B. received partial funding from National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (R01HL079953) for the preparation of this manuscript. There is no potential, perceived, or real conflict of interest for any of the authors. The sponsor played no role in the study design, the collection, analysis and interpretation of data, the writing of the report, and the decision to submit the manuscript.