ORIGINAL Afr J Psychiatry 2011;14:140-145 African Journal of Psychiatry • May 2011 140 Introduction Phobias are the most common anxiety disorders in childhood. A phobia is defined as an irrational and excessive fear of an object or situation. 1 Phobias usually develop in late childhood, adolescence or early adult life in response to a frightening event or situation. Large scale epidemiological surveys suggest that 5 to 20% of all children and adolescents are afflicted with at least one anxiety disorder. 1-3 In one of the few studies of impairing childhood anxiety disorders, the prevalence was greater than 10%. 4 Also, in a large U.S survey, the prevalence ranged from 12% to 20%. 2 The phobic disorders cause severe impairment and excessive distress. Although effective psychosocial and drug therapies exist, these anxious youngsters are virtually ignored compared with children with other psychiatric problems. There has been a Prevalence of common phobias and their socio-demographic correlates in children and adolescents in a traditional developing society A Bener 1,2 , S Ghuloum 3 , EE Dafeeah 3 1 Department of Medical Statistics & Epidemiology, Hamad General Hospital and Hamad Deptartment of Public Health, Medical Corporation & Weill Cornell Medical College, Doha, Qatar 2 Department of Evidence for Population Health Unit, School of Epidemiology and Health Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom 3 Department of Psychiatry, Rumailah Hospital, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar Abstract Objective: The aim of this study was to identify the most common phobias in children and adolescents and to determine the prevalence, age distribution, and socio-demographic correlates of phobias. Method: This was a prospective cross-sectional study conducted at public and private schools from July 2009 to February 2009. The questionnaire included socio-demographic information, extra-curricular activities and hobbies, behaviour at home and various phobic fears and it was distributed among children aged 6 to 18 years. Psychiatrists determined the definitive diagnosis for various phobias by checking and screening their symptoms. Results: Of the studied subjects, 44% were males and 56% were females. The overall prevalence of phobia in children and adolescents was 19.7%. Among children with phobia, females had higher rates of phobias (62.4% vs 37.6%) than males. Nearly half of total sufferers were in the 12-15 year age group (46.3%). Social phobia (12.7%) was the commonest phobia found followed by agoraphobia (8.6%). Secondary school children were highly afflicted with social phobia (14.9%), agoraphobia (11.7%) and specific phobia (9.6%), while preparatory students (8.3%) were more likely to have ‘medical’ phobia (fear of physical illness, medical tests and procedures). A significant difference was observed between the age groups in children with agoraphobia (p=0.002). Conclusion: The overall prevalence of phobia in children and adolescents in Qatar was higher than rates found in other epidemiologic studies, with the most common phobias observed being social phobia, agoraphobia and specific phobia. Key Words: Prevalence; Phobia; Children; Qatar Received: 15-03-2010 Accepted: 12-05-2010 doi: 10.4314/ajpsy.v14i2.6 Correspondence Prof. A Bener PO Box 3050, Doha, State of Qatar Email: abener@hmc.org.qa and abb2007@qatar-med.cornell.edu