SOCIAL COMPETENCE AND SELF-ESTEEM IN ADOLESCENTS WITH SOCIAL PHOBIA

This study is part of a project for the detection and early intervention of adolescents with social phobia in the community context that it has shown repeatedly to be effective in the reduction and elimination of this problem in the population of teenagers who are studying in a Compulsory Secondary Education (ESO) and post-compulsory. It shows the results of the research conducted with students of 3rd of ESO with social phobia, generalized in several Secondary Education Institutes (IES) of Alicante. According to Olivares and Garcia-Lopez (1998), the therapeutic efficacy of the treatment package Intervention in Adolescents with Social Phobia (IAFS) showed the increase in social competence and improvement of self-esteem in adolescents who were diagnosed with the disorder referred, against a group of passive control (no treatment) and a group of active control (treatment with a program of learning strategies including contents of exposure to social situations). All treatments were developed in schools. The results obtained in favor of IAFS treatment in the variables of social competence (informed by the tutor and parents) and self-esteem were maintained at follow-up after 6 months.