Why Do Kids Get Phobias?
No one really knows exactly why certain kids get phobias. Some scientists think that a person’s genes may have something to do with it, and that a kid who has a social phobia may have a parent with one, too. Sometimes a traumatic thing in a kid’s life — like the death of a parent, dealing with a parents’ divorce, or a big move — can cause a phobia to start. Scientists do know some things about phobias, though. They know that about five out of 100 people in the United States have one or more phobias. Women are slightly more likely to have phobias than men. Most social phobias start when a person is a teenager, although this and other kinds of phobias can also start when a kid is younger.
