Abstract

Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) and Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) are highly prevalent and frequently co-occur. The results of population studies suggest that SAD tends to precede AUD, and the results of laboratory studies suggest that alcohol use facilitates social behaviors in socially anxious individuals. Therefore, we posited that, in a modern context, a tendency to consume alcohol may be positively selected for among socially anxious individuals by its effect on the likelihood of finding a partner and reproducing. We tested the hypothesis that a higher proportion of individuals with a lifetime diagnosis of SAD and AUD reproduce (i.e., have at least one child) relative to individuals with SAD absent AUD in an individual participant meta-analysis based on over 65,000 adults derived from four nationally representative cross-sectional samples. We then cross-validated these findings against the results of a 10-year follow up of one of these surveys. Lifetime history of SAD was not associated with reproduction whereas lifetime history of AUD was positively associated with reproduction. There was no statistically detectable difference in the proportion of individuals with a lifetime history of SAD with or without AUD who reproduced. There was considerable heterogeneity in all of the analyses involving SAD, suggesting that there are likely to be other pertinent variables relating to SAD and reproduction that should be delineated.

DOI

10.1371/journal.pone.0188436

Publication Date

2017-11-21

Publication Title

PLoS ONE

Volume

12

Issue

11

Publisher

Public Library of Science

ISSN

1932-6203

Embargo Period

2024-11-22

Keywords

Adult, Alcohol Drinking, Alcoholism, Cross-Sectional Studies, Female, Health Surveys, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Phobia, Social, Physical Fitness, Reproduction, Schools, United States

First Page

e0188436

Last Page

e0188436

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