Someone has a specific phobia when they have a lot of fear about certain situations or objects. This fear comes with a lot of anxiety and/or avoidance of the object or situation. The anxiety or avoidance has to negatively affect functioning in order to be considered a disorder. The estimated prevalence rate in African Americans is 11.7%. 

There is some evidence to suggest that Blacks have a higher rate of specific phobias than whites and are more likely to have fears of animals.