A DIRECT-INTERVIEW FAMILY STUDY OF GENERALIZED SOCIAL PHOBIA

Objective: The goal of this direct-interview family study was to repli cate and extend an earlier finding of a familial liability for social phobia. The authors hypothesized that there would be higher rates of t he generalized type of social phobia-but not the nongeneralized (or '' discrete'') type-among relatives of probands with generalized social p hobia. They also hypothesized that rates of avoidant personality disor der, a frequent comorbid condition, would be higher in relatives of pr obands with generalized social phobia. Method: The authors examined ra tes of three social phobia subtypes defined a priori-discrete, nongene ralized, and generalized-ns well as rates of avoidant personality diso rder by direct interview of 106 first-degree relatives of 23 patients with generalized social phobia and 74 first-degree relatives of 24 com parison subjects without social phobia. Results: Relative risks for ge neralized social phobia and avoidant personality disorder were markedl y higher (approximately 10-fold) among first-degree relatives of proba nds with generalized social phobia than among first-degree relatives o f comparison probands. In contrast, relative risks for discrete social phobia and nongeneralized social phobia were not significantly differ ent between the two groups of first-degree relatives. Conclusions: The se results confirm earlier findings of a higher rate of social phobia among relatives of probands with generalized social phobia and extend these findings by specifically indicating that it is only the generali zed type (and its probable axis II counterpart, avoidant personality d isorder) that occurs more often among the families of probands with ge neralized social phobia. Implications for subsequent generic studies a re discussed.