Isabel Cristina Salazar

The Multidimensional Nature and Multicultural Validity of a New Measure of Social Anxiety: The Social Anxiety Questionnaire for Adults

Much has been written about the situations most often feared by persons with social phobia, and several self-report measures are frequently used to assess such feared situations. However, it is not clear whether the situations feared by persons with social phobia form unidimensional or multidimensional factors. If these situations are multidimensional, reliance on a total score of feared situations would not reflect important differences between those dimensions. This research examined the multidimensional nature and multicultural validity of a newly developed instrument (the Social Anxiety Questionnaire for Adults [SAQ-A]) in two studies with a total of 539 patients diagnosed with social phobia and 15,753 nonpatients from 20 different countries. The structure (five clear and solid factors) and psychometric properties of the final instrument (the SAQ-A30) support the multidimensional nature of social anxiety and provide a new perspective in the assessment of social phobia.

Differences in social anxiety between men and women across 18 countries

Sex differences between men and women in social anxiety are largely unexplored. This study sought to shed some light on this topic. We administered self-report measures of social anxiety to community samples of 17,672 women and 13,440 men from 16 Latin American countries, Spain and Portugal, as well as to a clinical sample of 601 patients diagnosed with social anxiety disorder. Small but significant differences were found between men and women in the general degree of social anxiety and self-reported fears of interactions with the opposite sex, criticism and embarrassment, and speaking in public-talking to people in authority. These results point to small, but meaningful differences between men and women in social anxiety. Implications of these results for the self-report measurement of social anxiety in men and women are discussed.

Psychometric properties of an innovative self-report measure: The Social Anxiety Questionnaire for adults.

This article presents the psychometric properties of a new measure of social anxiety, the Social Anxiety Questionnaire for adults (SAQ), composed of 30 items that were developed based on participants from 16 Latin American countries, Spain, and Portugal. Two groups of participants were included in the study: a nonclinical group involving 18,133 persons and a clinical group comprising 334 patients with a diagnosis of social anxiety disorder (social phobia). Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses supported a 5-factor structure of the questionnaire. The factors were labeled as follows: (1) Interactions with strangers, (2) Speaking in public/talking with people in authority, (3) Interactions with the opposite sex, (4) Criticism and embarrassment, and (5) Assertive expression of annoyance, disgust, or displeasure. Psychometric evidence supported the internal consistency, convergent validity, and measurement invariance of the SAQ. To facilitate clinical applications, a receiver operating characteristics (ROC) analysis identified cut scores for men and women for each factor and for the global score.

Evaluation of the Reliability and Validity of the Social Anxiety Questionnaire for Children in Adolescents with Social Anxiety Disorder

Little research has focused on the measurement of specific facets of social anxiety disorder (SAD) in adolescents. In this study, we report on the Social Anxiety Questionnaire for Children (SAQ-C; Caballo et al. 2016), a 24-item questionnaire which assesses six facets of social anxiety in youth: 1) Speaking in public/Interactions with teachers, 2) Interactions with the opposite sex, 3) Criticism and embarrassment, 4) Assertive expression of annoyance, disgust, or displeasure, 5) Interactions with strangers, and 6) Performing in public. The SAQ-C has been shown to have sound psychometric properties in large samples of non-clinical Latin-American and Spanish youth. The present study aimed to provide the first evaluation of the psychometric properties of the SAQ-C in a clinical sample of 58 English-speaking adolescents diagnosed with SAD in the United States. Findings support the reliability and validity of this new measure and reveal specific facets of social anxiety not adequately captured in other frequently used self-report measures. Implications of the findings for assessment and treatment are addressed.

Psychometric properties of the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale in a large cross-cultural Spanish and Portuguese speaking sample

Objective: To examine the psychometric properties of the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale-Self Report (LSAS-SR) based on a large sample recruited from 16 Latin American countries, Spain, and Portugal. Methods: Two groups of participants were included: a non-clinical sample involving 31,243 community subjects and a clinical sample comprising 529 patients with a diagnosis of social anxiety disorder (SAD). Exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM) were used in order to determine the psychometric properties of the LSAS-SR. Results: EFA identified five factors with eigenvalues greater than 1.00 explaining 50.78% of the cumulative variance. CFA and ESEM supported this 5-factor structure of the LSAS-SR. The factors included: 1) speaking in public; 2) eating/drinking in front of other people; 3) assertive behaviors; 4) working/writing while being observed; and 5) interactions with strangers. Other psychometric properties such as inter-factor correlations, invariance, reliability, and validity of the scale were also found. Conclusion: Psychometric data support the internal consistency and convergent validity of the LSAS-SR. It seems to be a valid and reliable measure of global social anxiety for Spanish and Portuguese-speaking countries, although when considering a multidimensional approach (factor-based assessment) it seems to be lacking some relevant social situations that are feared in those countries.