Stein et. Al (1996) studied the extent to which public-speaking fears constituted a recognizable social phobia in a community sample. The data was collected via a randomized telephone survey of 499 residents of Winnipeg, Manitoba, a medium-sized Midwestern metropolitan area.

33% of respondents reported that they had excessive anxiety when they spoke to an audience. Out of those that reported public-speaking anxiety, 50% reported an onset of fears at the age of 13 years of age; 75% reported on onset of fears by 17 years; and 90% reported an onset of fears by 20 years – suggesting that the majority of those who did develop public-speaking anxiety, did so at an early age. Other studies suggest that social phobia has a higher rate among younger people. Magee et. al (1996) conducted a study in which it was found that lifetime prevalence rates of social phobia were higher in the younger cohorts (ages 15–24, 14.9%; ages 25–34, 13.8%) than in the older cohorts (ages 35–44, 12.1%; ages 45–54, 12.2%).

Returning back to the results from Stein's (1996) research, it was found that anxious cognitions about public speaking included the following fears: doing or saying something embarrassing (64%); one’s mind going blank (74%); being unable to continue talking (63%); saying foolish things or not making sense (59%); and trembling, shaking, or showing other signs of anxiety (80%).

Some respondents reported that public-speaking anxiety had resulted in a marked interference with their work (2%), social life (1%), or education (4%). 8% of respondents reported that public-speaking anxiety caused marked distress. 5% of respondents had public-speaking anxiety in isolation, i.e. independent of any other social fears.

The study suggests that public-speaking anxiety may have a detrimental impact on the lives of many individuals in the community.

In later years, Stein et. al (2000) conducted research to analyse trends in social phobia prevalence in the United States; the analysis used data over a period of four decades. People with social anxiety were able to be classified into two distinct groups: those with exclusive speaking fears (Type 1) and those with one or more other social-evaluative fears (Type 2). Type 2 social phobia was found to be more persistent, more impairing, and more highly co-morbid with other DSM-III-R disorders. Based on the study, it was found that the lifetime prevalence of social phobia appears to have increased in recent cohorts, but only for Type 2 social phobia. Type 2 social phobia is a more severe form of social phobia, compared with Type 1, and was found to have an earlier onset.

References

Magee WJ, Eaton WW, Wittchen HU, McGonagle KA, Kessler RC. Agoraphobia, simple phobia, and social phobia in the National Comorbidity Survey. Arch Gen Psychiatry 1996

M. B. Stein, J. R. Walker and D. R. Forde 1996, Public-speaking fears in a community sample. Prevalence, impact on functioning, and diagnostic classification, Department of Psychiatry, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg

M. B. Stein, E. Hiripi and R. C. Kessler 2000, Trends in the prevalence of social phobia in the United States: a synthetic cohort analysis of changes over four decades, European Pshychiatry, volume 15 issue 1