Abstract
Objective: Review the prevalence of social anxiety symptoms (SAS) in university students and the possible effect due to active methodology. Methods: This is an integrative bibliographic research, and a search indexed in Scielo, Medline, Lilacs and Scie-Pub databases was conducted. A sample of 8 studies from 2010 to 2020 met the inclusion criteria. The selected studies were those that addressed the prevalence of SAS in university students. The descriptors used were: "students", "social anxiety", "active methodology”. Results: The sample demonstrated that the SAS was significantly more common in university students instead of general population. Among these students, the prevalence was even higher in medical students and in females. The study involving the problem-based learning methodology (PBL) scenario suggested that the prevalence of social phobia acquired a decreasing pattern as the advanced of graduation. Furthermore, such pathology was frequently associated to other comorbidities. Final Considerations: It is concluded that SAS is highly prevalent among college students, and the PBL methodology emerged as a possible attenuating factor of this symptomatology, highlighting the need for further studies considering a better elucidation.