Severe Social Anxiety Among Adolescents During COVID-19 Lockdown

Abstract

To study the prevalence of severe social anxiety (SSA) among a group of adolescents during the coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. A total of 178 adolescents attending the private clinics of the authors were screened online for the presence of SSA, by using the self-reporting format of the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale for children and adolescents (LSAS-CA). SSA defined as LSAS-CA scores of 80 or more was checked for statistical association with the adolescents’ sociodemographic data and knowledge about the COVID-19 infection. The 18% of our participants had SSA, no correlation was found between having SSA and ä acknowledging or fearing the COVID-19 morbidity. Factors associated with SSA included texting, using social media, and playing video games during the lockdown. Mitigating factors include high family socioeconomic status, history of socialization with friends, and the use of WhatsApp as a source of information about COVID-19 infection.