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Biomedical subjects

J Kagan

Publications and source records attributed to J Kagan.

At least 181 records · Page 10Linked to original sources

Is allergic rhinitis more frequent in young adults with extreme shyness? A preliminary survey.

Previous studies suggest that social anxiety, allergies and distressed affect may be interrelated in some persons. For example, extremely introverted patients experience a poorer course and outcome of allergies as well as greater degrees of distressed affect such as depression and anxiety than do extraverts. Patients with affective disorders have a higher prevalence of atopic allergy than the general population; families of patients with panic disorder and major depression have the highest frequency of shy children. Preliminary investigation also indicate that behaviorally inhibited Caucasian children (initially shy and cautions in unfamiliar situations) and their families have more allergies, especially hay fever, than do uninhibited, socially outgoing children. The present survey evaluated the frequency of self-reported shyness. The most introverted subjects had significantly higher scores on self reports of depression, fearfulness, and fatigue, as well as a higher prevalence of hay fever. The data support the possibility of a distinct subgroup of shy individuals with concomitant vulnerability to specific allergies and affective disorders.

Adolescent↗

Temperament and allergic symptoms.

Two independent studies of the first and second degree relatives of extremely shy versus sociable children revealed greater prevalence of hayfever and social anxiety among the relatives of the former group of children. These data, which are in accord with other research, imply a genetically mediated relation between social anxiety and selected atopic allergies.

Adult↗