Relationship between Social Anxiety and Some Demographic Characteristics among Nursing Students

Optimum mental health status of students in the university ables them to deal effectively with numerous stressors that they experience; especially in students of medical sciences. Social anxiety can disturb academic performance، weaken their intellectual abilities and threaten their mental health. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between social anxiety and some demographic variables in undergraduate nursing students of Medical Universities in Tehran. In this descriptive-analytic study، 400 nursing students of medical universities in Tehran were selected by stratified random sampling. Data were collected during the first semester in 2010. Students completed two-part questionnaire including Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale and demographic form. Using descriptive statistics of frequency، mean، standard deviation and inferential statistics of one way ANOVA، t-test and Scheffe determination tests data were analyzed in SPSS v. 16. Social anxiety was statistically related with students’ work experience (p=0. 02) and schools they were educating (p=0. 01). There was no statistically significant relationship between social anxiety and gender، semester، total mean grade، accommodation place، marital and economic status. According to the significant relationship between social anxiety and the students’ work experience and the schools they were educating; it seems an educational system is required to improve the coping skills، mental health and also providing facilitations; and encouraging the students to work during academic period can able them to influence and control the level of social anxiety.