Factors related to self‐reported social anxiety symptoms among incoming university students

Aim The aim of this study was to explore the lifestyle/social, personality trait and mental factors among incoming university students with higher self‐reported social anxiety symptoms ( SAS ). Methods A total of 5126 incoming university students were recruited. The test battery included a self‐administered questionnaire that examined personal lifestyle, the M easurement of S upport F unctions, the C hinese I nternet A ddiction S cale‐ R evision, the O rganizational C itizenship B ehaviour S cale, the S ocial P hobia I nventory, the suicide ideation from the B rief S ymptoms R ating S cale and the P ittsburgh S leep Q uestionnaire. Results SAS (23.7%) were prevalent. Using logistic regression analysis, we found that the significant predictors of higher levels of SAS were being an undergraduate student and a non‐smoker, having lower M easurement of S upport F unctions score (poorer social support), having higher C hinese I nternet A ddiction S cale‐ R evision score ( I nternet addiction), having lower O rganizational C itizenship B ehaviour S cale score (less altruistic behaviour), having suicide ideation and having higher P ittsburgh S leep Q uestionnaire score (poorer sleeper). Conclusions Given the high prevalence of SAS among university students, it is necessary to build a better strategy to detect students with potential social anxiety‐related problems/disorders or other mental problems early on.