Agoraphobic behavior in daily life: effects of social roles and demographic characteristics

Agoraphobia is related to demographic characteristics and social roles. To unravel behavioral aspects from demographic characteristics, daily life situations were registered with the Experience Sampling Method for 65 panic patients with and without agoraphobia. Surprisingly, panic patients with and without agoraphobia did not differ as hypothesized in reported frequencies of visits to public places. Panic subjects with agoraphobia did, however, spend significantly more time at home and with their families than did panic patients without agoraphobia and normal controls. When adjusted for demographic variables such as sex, marital status, family life, and employment, no significant differences between panic patients with and without agoraphobia emerged on the avoidance variables of remaining at home or being with a family member. The lack of discrimination of the diagnosis on these crucial behavioral variables highlights the influence of demographic characteristics and social roles on agoraphobia in daily life. Such findings challenge current diagnostic conceptualizations that rely on retrospective reports by patients of the avoidance of public places. Moreover, reliance on retrospective reports obscured the important role of significant others for understanding etiology and course.