Key factors behind various specific phobia subtypes

Zsidó, András N. and Kiss, Botond L. and Basler, Julia and Birkás, Béla and Coelho, Carlos M. (2023) Key factors behind various specific phobia subtypes. SCIENTIFIC REPORTS, 13 (1). No. 22281. ISSN 2045-2322

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Abstract

While it has been suggested that more than a quarter of the whole population is at risk of developing some form of specifc phobia (SP) during their lives, we still know little about the various risk and protective factors and underlying mechanisms. Moreover, although SPs are distinct mental disorder categories, most studies do not distinguish between them, or stress their diferences. Thus, our study was manifold. We examined the psychometric properties of the Specifc Phobia Questionnaire (SPQ) and assessed whether it can be used for screening in the general population in a large sample (N= 685). Then, using general linear modeling on a second sample (N= 432), we tested how potential socio-demographic, cognitive emotion regulatory, and personality variables were associated with the fve SP subtypes. Our results show that the SPQ is a reliable screening tool. More importantly, we identifed transdiagnostic (e.g., younger age, female gender, rumination, catastrophizing, positive refocusing) as well as phobia-specifc factors that may contribute to the development and maintenance of SPs. Our results support previous claims that phobias are more diferent than previously thought, and, consequently, should be separately studied, instead of collapsing into one category. Our fndings could be pertinent for both prevention and intervention strategies.

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