Social Anxiety Disorder among Undergraduate Students: Exploring Association with Self-esteem and Personality Traits

Background: Social phobia impacts negatively on the social and academic life of students and exerts a detrimental effect on the quality of life of the bearer. The study examined the burden of social anxiety disorder (SAD), the relationship of SAD with sociodemographic variables and self-esteem, and the big five personality traits correlates of both SAD and self-esteem among undergraduate students. Methods: Participants completed the Social Phobia Inventory (SPIN), the Big Five Personality Trait Inventory (BFPI), Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, and a sociodemographic questionnaire. The relationships between variables were explored using bivariate and multivariate statistics. Results: Two hundred and eighty (62.5%) participants reported significant SAD, mostly in the mild form (50.9%). There was a significant negative correlation between the SPIN scores and the total score on BFPI, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, openness, and self-esteem and a positive correlation with the neuroticism subscale. Similarly, a significant positive correlation with self-esteem and agreeableness, extraversion and conscientiousness, and a negative correlation between neuroticism subscale of BFPI were noted. Younger age also significantly increased the risk of social anxiety among the participants. Conclusions: The burden of social phobia among the undergraduate students was high, and highly correlated with personality traits and self-esteem. The study underscores the need to consider several factors in reducing social performance anxiety among undergraduate students with central effort geared toward reducing neuroticism and promotion of positive self-imagery and appraisal.