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The paper describes prevalence, impairments, patterns of co-morbidity and other correlates of DSM-IV social phobia in adolescents and young adults, separating generalized and non-generalized social phobics.

Data are derived from the baseline investigation of the Early Developmental Stages of Psychopathology Study (EDSP), a prospective longitudinal community study of 3021 subjects, aged 14–24. Diagnoses were based on the DSM-IV algorithms of an expanded version of the Composite International Diagnostic Interview.

Lifetime prevalence of DSM-IV/CIDI social phobia was 9·5% in females and 4·9% in males, with about one-third being classified as generalized social phobics. Twelve-month prevalence was only slightly lower, indicating considerable persistence. Respondents with generalized social phobia reported an earlier age of onset, higher symptom persistence, more …