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

Abstract

This paper 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 non-clinical 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: 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 ROC analysis identified cut scores for men and women for each factor and for the global score.

Dose timing of d -cycloserine to augment cognitive behavioral therapy for social anxiety: Study design and rationale

“…The Social Anxiety Questionnaire for Adults 33 is a 30-item self-report measure that assesses the level of unease, stress, or nervousness experienced during different social situations. The SAQ assesses five dimensions of social anxiety that are considered not well addressed in extant measures of social anxiety.…”

Interpersonal Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (IERQ): Scale Development and Psychometric Characteristics

“…The SAQ (Caballo et al, 2015) is a 30-item self-report questionnaire that assesses the level of anxiety, stress, or nervousness experienced during various social situations. The SAQ assesses five dimensions of social anxiety: 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.…”

Evaluation of the social phobia scale and social interaction anxiety scale as assessments of performance and interaction anxiety

“…Three explanations for this finding can be considered. First, although performance anxiety is considered as a distinct dimension in the DSM-5 based on specific empirical evidence (Blöte et al, 2009), such a distinction is not universally supported and it may be SIAS AND SPS CRITERION VALIDITY 16 that social anxiety is, in fact, a single, unidimensional construct (Boyers et al, 2017;Caballo et al, 2015). Second, if performance anxiety does exist as a distinct dimension of social anxiety, this could potentially exist only at the clinical level.…”

“…This specifier is applicable when an individual's fears are restricted to speaking or performing in public and replaced the previous 'non-generalized' specifier which related to fear of one or two specific social situations. Although a qualitative separation of performance anxiety and the more general form of social anxiety (typically involving interactional concerns) has not been unequivocally supported (Caballo et al, 2015), some evidence suggests performance anxiety exhibits a later onset, reduced genetic contribution, different personality correlates, stronger associations with physiological reactivity during speech and greater responsiveness to beta-blocker medication than general social anxiety (Blöte et al, 2009;Bögels et al, 2010;Hook et al, 2013). Broadly speaking, performance anxiety can be characterized as a phobia-like, hyperarousal reaction to performance situations, whereas the generalized form is a more diffuse anxiety response to a broad range of social-evaluative situations.…”