Investigação dos sintomas de Ansiedade Social nos universitários

Abstract

Anxiety is an emotion responsible for a set of unpleasant physical sensations, one of the most disturbing. When it increases dramatically in the face of social interactions and due to the need for this interaction, we may be facing a Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD). The university context demands of its members a constant exposition of their social skills, regardless of the course chosen by the student. This conjuncture can trigger social anxiety symptoms, sometimes unnoticed for years. However, a behavioral change can only happen in individuals who perceive damage and are motivated because motivation is the intrinsic force that drives action. This study investigated social anxiety in college students and the stage of motivation to change anxious behaviors. We used a Questionnaire created on the Google forms platform, the Social Phobia Scale - Liebowitz (LSAS), the Social Anxiety Questionnaire for Adults (CASO) and the Ready to Change Ruler. The instruments assessed sociodemographic data, social anxiety constructs and motivation to change anxious behaviors in a clinical sample of (n = 52) undergraduate students from the four areas of knowledge of the Federal University of Amazonas (Humanities, Biological, Agrarian and Exactly). The database was developed in the data processing program Microsoft Excel 2013 (Microsoft Office Enterprise) and analyzed in the Statistic Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software, version 23.0. The results revealed a predominance of female (80.8%), single civil status (98.1%), of participants who had a fixed love partner (53.8%), who lived with relatives (98.1%) with income ≥ 2000 reais (61.5%), who did not use drugs (75%), of academics of the Human Sciences courses (61.5%), where 65.4% of the general sample obtained significant clinical data for the diagnosis of SAD after the intersection of the CASO and LSAS scores. The correlation indicated that in the first use in a research of the north of the country, the CASO had a convergent validity with the LSAS. Ready to Change Ruler demonstrated that students are prepared to perform the change of their behaviors. High scores for SAD and motivational stage of preparation for action, make up enough data to justify intervention proposals.