At the Odyssey web site, I found a strange article by Matt Neuenschwander titled The Notable Bathrooms of Kennesaw State University (and subtitled Finding solitude to make a solid). His first sentence claims:
“Probably
the only phobia more common than the fear of public speaking is the fear of
using public bathrooms.”
Matt doesn’t say where he found that very curious ranking of
fears. It disagrees with results from three magazine articles about the
definitive U. S. mental health series collectively known as the National
Comorbidity Survey.
A 1998 article about the original National Comorbidity
Survey (NCS) found that 30.2% of feared public speaking while only 6.6% feared
using a toilet away from home. I blogged about that one in a July 22,2011 post
titled Putting the fears puzzle pieces together: social and specific fears in
the National Comorbidity Survey.
A 2008 article about the National Comorbidity Survey-Replication
(NCS-R) found that 21.2% of U.S. adults feared public speaking/performance (really
stage fright) while only 5.7% feared using public bathroom. I blogged about
that one in an October 11, 2011 post titled What’s the difference between a
fear and a phobia?
A 2011 article about the National Comorbidity Survey-Adolescent
Supplement (NCS-A) found that 35.8% feared performing for audience, 24.9%
feared speaking in class, and 10.3% feared using public bathroom. I blogged
about that one in a June 11, 2012 post titled What social situations scare
American adolescents, and what are their top 20 fears?
That Odyssey web article has a date of December 22, 2015,
but on Google it only showed up in the last few days.
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