Social anxiety more common in women than men: study

Social anxiety plagues more women than men, a study in the journal Personality and Individual Differences shows.

Researchers surveyed over 31,000 participants across several countries with a mean age of 25. In the end, more women reported social anxiety than men, especially when carrying on conversations with the opposite sex, according to The Conversation.

Anxiety is a mental health issue that affects 40 million Americans, and women are diagnosed with anxiety disorders at nearly twice the rate of men, the Anxiety and Depression Association of America reports.

Participants completed a social anxiety questionnaire that assessed their discomfort in a variety of social situations, including interacting with strangers, interacting with members of the opposite sex, public speaking, expressing displeasure, reacting to criticism and speaking to authority figures.

They also looked at their reactions to eating or drinking in public, working in small groups, working while being observed or going to a party.

The authors speculate that women are more uncomfortable speaking with the opposite sex because they are usually are more passive when interacting with men.

"I think there's little question that there's more anxiety today, and that women, in particular, are feeling it," Dr. JoAnn E. Manson, chief of the division of preventive medicine at Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital, told Glamour. "I see it not only among patients but with friends, colleagues and people I interact with daily."

But for both sexes, talking with the other was the second most stressful situation, following dealing with criticism or embarrassment.

Around 23 percent of women may be struggling with anxiety disorders, The Huffington Post writes, but the average woman takes nine to 12 years to get properly diagnosed after experiencing symptoms.

"You believe it's normal, and that everyone else must feel this way too," Dr. Richard A. Friedman, a professor of clinical psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical College, told Glamour.