Interviewers' notes about section C: Social phobia

The aim of this section is to find out whether the child is particularly afraid of any social situations. As for specific phobias, we are trying to get the information we need to distinguish between mild fears (which are common) and a true phobia. Social fears and phobias are related to being with a lot of people, meeting new people etc. We are trying to identify children who have far more than 'ordinary' shyness, though social phobia might look like extreme shyness.

Again, please emphasise to the respondent that we are interested in how the child is compared to other children of his/her age and we are not interested in the occasional 'off day'. Parents are asked about whether their child is afraid of particular social situations. Sometimes the parents won't know or the situation won't apply. For example, some parents don't know if their child is anxious about reading out loud in front of others at school - and in some cases, the child is not attending school.

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Last modified : 05/09/09