Family determination of social phobia in students
Authors: Sorokoumova S. N. , Tsvetkova N. A. 
Published: July 2024

Introduction. Numerous scientific studies show a tendency for the spread of social phobia among students, which is explained by factors of uncertainty, global risk, a sharp change in the conditions of higher education, as well as, mainly, the personal characteristics of students. However, family determination plays an important role in its formation, which has not been sufficiently studied. Attached to their parents, but feeling insignificant in the family, boys and girls are not sufficiently prepared to accept new challenges outside the family - their social anxiety can increase to the level of social phobia. The purpose of the study was to identify the features of the family determination of social phobia in students, determined by their proximity to their parents and importance in the parental family.Materials and Methods. The sample was made up of students of the II and III courses of Moscow universities (125 boys and 125 girls) who had not previously been married at the time of the survey. The methods of socio-psychological diagnostics were used: "Family sociogram" by E. G. Eidemiller and O. V. Cheremisin; questionnaire of social anxiety and social phobia by O. A. Sagalakova and D. V. Truevtsev (STiSF). In the course of the study, group differentiation was carried out: according to the level of social anxiety, 2 groups were distinguished (students with and without social phobia); according to family status, 4 groups (close to the father, close to the mother, equally close to both parents, "alienated" from the parental family). Empirical data were subjected to mathematical and statistical processing based on the MS Office Excel package, IBM SPSS Statistics 23. Intergroup differences were determined by the Student's t-criterion; correlation analysis was performed by Pearson's r-criterion.Results. In the combined sample, about 29% of students were found with low indicators of the general level of social phobia, about 27% with elevated indicators and about 44% with a high general level of STIS. The overall level indicator was 47.8 points, which corresponds to an increased level of social anxiety with a tendency to high. In the sample of students with social phobia, a smaller percentage of those close to their father and a large percentage close to their mother, as well as equally close to both parents, were found compared with the sample of students without social phobia. Sociophobic students have a significantly lower status in the parental family, but no intergroup differences in indicators of proximity to their father or mother were found (in both groups there are many students who are close to each parent and alienated from them). The absence of close links between indicators of students' closeness to parents, their importance in the parental family and indicators of social phobia in the combined sample and the sample of students with social phobia was noted, however, their significant correlations were revealed in the sample of students without social phobia.Discussion and Conclusions. The position of students with social phobia in the parental family is high in proximity to both parents, but low in importance in the family, whereas the position of students with a low level of STIS is characterized by a moderate degree of importance in the family and a low equal degree of proximity to both parents. The occurrence of social phobia is less likely in students who have an equal low degree of closeness to both parents and moderate (within 6-7 points) with a tendency to a high degree of importance in the family.