A Study on Tourist Guidance Students of Social Interaction Anxiety

Abstract

Social anxiety disorder is a common psychiatric condition especially among teenagers. Individuals who are anxious about social interaction show negative feelings such as avoiding or withdrawing from social encounters based on their past failures. For this reason, such situations can have a negative effect in some occupational groups, especially in the tourist guidance, which requires verbal communication. In this study, considering the social interaction anxiety levels of the students attending an undergraduate degree in tourist guidance, it will be examined whether they will continue the guidance profession after their education or not according to their demographic characteristics. The study group of the study will consist of Balıkesir University Tourism Faculty Tourist Guidance students. A total of 266 students, 135 of whom were males and 131 females, voluntarily participated in the study. Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (SIAS) and Social Phobia Scale (SPS) were used as data collection tools. T-test and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used to analyze the data. As a result of the research, it was revealed that tourist guiding students do not have social interaction concerns and they want to do the tourist guiding after graduation.