Abstract
Fears in social situations appear to be a ubiquitous phenomenon. Cross-cultural investigations indicate that social fears exist among Australian, Swedish, Israeli, American, and Japanese children and adolescents (Abe & Suzuki, 1986; Ginter, Lufi, Trotzky, & Richmond, 1989; Miller, 1983; Slee & Cross, 1989; A. K. Watson, Monroe, & Atterstrom, 1984). Despite the universality of such fears, there appears to be a subset of children who express fears of social interaction to such an extent that the fears interfere with daily functioning or impede social-emotional development. These children may meet diagnostic criteria for social phobia.
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Beidel, D.C., Randall, J. (1994). Social Phobia. In: Ollendick, T.H., King, N.J., Yule, W. (eds) International Handbook of Phobic and Anxiety Disorders in Children and Adolescents. Issues in Clinical Child Psychology. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-1498-9_6
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