Concurrent validity of the Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory

The Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory (SPAI) is a new instrument designed to assess symptoms of social phobia. Although the scale has been shown to have a good test-retest reliability, internal consistency, and construct validity, no studies have examined its concurrent validity with respect to other measures of social anxiety and avoidance. In the present study, the relationship between the SPAI and several self-report measures of social anxiety was examined in a sample of 23 patients meeting DSM-III-R criteria for social phobia. The relationship between the SPAI and other measures of psychopathology, as well as performance during a role play test and an impromptu speech, was also examined. The results strongly support the concurrent validity and the specificity of the SPAI. The Social Phobia subscale may be a better index of social anxiety symptoms than the Difference subscale.This research was supported, in part, by NIMH grants MH 38636 and MH 41577 to the second author.     

The social phobia and anxiety inventory: Further validation in two nonclinical samples

The Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory (SPAI) has been developed to assess specific symptoms of social phobia and agoraphobia. Although the SPAI was developed with both clinical and nonclinical populations, research with this measure is currently focused primarily on clinical samples. We examined the factor structure and psychometric properties of the SPAI in adult community and college undergraduate samples. We found that single-sample and multisample confirmatory factor analyses provided support for extending use of the correlated two-factor SPAI subscales to our nonclinical samples. In addition, we found evidence for the internal consistency reliability of the SPAI subscales in both samples. Limitations and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

Discriminant validity of the Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory (SPAI), the Social Phobia Scale (SPS) and the Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (SIAS)

Three measures commonly used in assessment of social phobia, the Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory (SPAI [Turner, S. M., Beidel, D. C. & Dancu, C. V. (1996). Social phobia and anxiety inventory: manual. Toronto, Ont.: Multi-Health Systems Inc.), the Social Phobia Scale (SPS [Mattick, R. P. & Clarke, J. C. (1998). Development and validation of measures of social phobia scrutiny fear and social interaction anxiety. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 36, 455-470] and the Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (SIAS [Mattick, R. P. & Clarke, J. C. (1998). Development and validation of measures of social phobia scrutiny fear and social interaction anxiety. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 36, 455-470], were compared for their ability to discriminate between social phobia and other anxiety disorders (panic disorder with or without agoraphobia). Participants were 117 patients attending a specialized anxiety disorders unit for treatment. While all three measures were able to detect differences between social phobic patients and patients with panic disorder with or without agoraphobia, a logistic regression analysis showed that the SPAI, but not the SPS and SIAS, was a significant predictor of membership of the social phobia group. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis also showed that the SPAI was the better measure for discriminating between social phobia and panic disorder with and without agoraphobia. Analysis of the sensitivity, specificity and positive and negative predictive power of the measures at the optimum cutoff scores produced by the ROC analysis are presented.     

An Assessment of Social Phobia and Social Anxiety and their Relation to Self-Consciousness

Abstract

The translation of the Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory (SPAI) into Icelandic was submitted to a psychometric assessment. Two hundred sixty-three university students participated in the study. In addition to the SPAI they filled in Fenigstein, Scheier and Buss' (1975) Self-Consciousness Scale (SCS) as well as Spielberger's (1983) State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI). A principal components analysis of the SPAI yielded as expected an agoraphobia and a social phobia factor. As expected the Social Anxiety Scale of the SCS correlated much more strongly with the Social Phobia than the Agoraphobia Scale. The correlation of the Social Phobia Scale with the Social Anxiety Scale was substantially higher than its correlation with any other anxiety measure. The relationships between the Social Phobia Scale and Public versus Private Self-Consciousness were moreover in accordance with theoretical expectations as well as prior research. Generally the discriminant and convergent validity of the Icelandic translation of the Social Phobia Scale as a measure of social anxiety is supported.     

The Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory: Reliability and Validity in an Adolescent Spanish Population

The objective of this study is to examine the factor structure and psychometric properties of the SPAI in a sample of adolescent Spaniards. The results obtained support the use of the correlated two-factor SPAI subscales and indicate high coefficient alpha values for the SPAI subscales. The results provide support for the use of the SPAI in an adolescent population in a non-English-speaking country. Both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses of the Social Phobia subscale showed a four-factor structure, instead of a five-factor dimension, as suggested by previous studies. Effects for gender and age and gender interaction were found. Limitations and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

Psychometric properties and factor structure of the Fear Questionnaire phobia subscale items in two normative samples

Normative data for the Fear Questionnaire (Marks & Mathews, 1979), a popular self-report instrument measuring phobic concerns, were collected from both a community and a collegiate sample. The covariation and internal consistency of the blood-injury phobia (BI), social phobia (SO), and agoraphobia (AG) subscales were assessed in each sample, and the factor structure of the items from these three subscales was examined. Results indicated that, in general, community subjects reported more phobic concerns than did collegiate subjects, and females reported greater phobic concerns than did males. Results from confirmatory factor analyses suggest that the three factors of BI, SO, and AG did not emerge from either data set. Follow-up exploratory factor analyses did identify the general factors of blood-injury phobia and agoraphobia. Normative data from the present study are compared to those obtained previously, and directions for future research are provided.     

The Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory: concurrent validity with a clinic sample

The Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory (SPAI) is an empirically derived self-report inventory developed as a specific measure of social phobia. The current investigation included two studies. The first examined the correlation of the SPAI with daily social behavior of a clinic sample of social phobics. The results indicated that the SPAI provides a reasonable indication of the distress experienced during daily social encounters in three dimensions: behavior, cognitions, and overall distress. The second study examined the validity of the SPAI with reference to the somatic response and avoidance behavior of social phobics. The results indicated that the somatic items of the SPAI are related to the somatic response of social phobics and that performance on the SPAI is associated with avoidance behavior in an anxiety-producing task.     

The social phobia and anxiety inventory: psychometric properties in a Spanish sample

This study is a validation of the Spanish version of the Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory using a nonclinical sample (198 participants) and a clinical sample (72 participants with social phobia). The factor structure and concurrent validity with Fear of Negative Evaluation and Social Avoidance and Distress scales were analyzed. The Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory demonstrated good concurrent validity, showing statistically significant relationships with Fear of Negative Evaluation and Social Avoidance and Distress. Results confirmed the rationale for the division of the SPAI into two subscales. Results also demonstrated the utility of the Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory for differentiating between a nonclinical sample and participants with a social phobia, and its adequate reliability.     

Self-focused attention before and after treatment of social phobia

It has been hypothesized that effective psychological treatment for social phobia changes the person's representation of the self in a more positive direction. In order to test this hypothesis, we analyzed 506 thoughts that were endorsed by 23 social phobic individuals while anticipating socially stressful situations before and after exposure therapy. Treatment efficacy was assessed with the Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory (SPAI) [Turner, S. M., Beidel, D. C., Dancu, C. V., & Stanley M. A. (1989) An empirically derived inventory to measure social fears and anxiety: the Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory. Psychological Assessment, 1, 35-40)]. Subjects endorsed significantly fewer negative self-focused thoughts after treatment (on average 8.7% of the thoughts) than before treatment (26.5%, p < 0.005). These changes were highly correlated with pre-post difference scores in the social phobia subscale of the SPAI (r = 0.74, p < 0.0001). Implications of the results for the cognitive model of social phobia will be discussed.     

Psychometric Properties of the Perceived Social Support from Family and Friends Scale: Data from an Adolescent Sample in Ghana

Several studies have found that perceived social support plays a crucial role in the psychological and physical wellbeing of young people. A number of instruments measuring perceived social support have been developed and validated, including the Perceived Social Support from Family and Friends subscales. The psychometric properties of the Perceived Social Support from Family and Friends subscales have been demonstrated in a range of samples, although not in Ghana. The purpose of this study is to investigate the psychometric properties of the Perceived Social Support from Family and Friends subscales in Ghanaian adolescents using data from a school-based survey (N?=?770; 14–21 years). Participants completed a self-report questionnaire containing the Perceived Social Support from Family and Friends subscales, the Adolescent Stress Questionnaire, and the 12-item General Health Questionnaire. An exploratory factor analysis in addition to simultaneous confirmatory factor analyses with structural equation modelling were performed to evaluate the factor structure and factorial validity of the subscales along with Cronbach’s α and intercorrelations. Three factors and two factors were extracted for the Friends and Family subscales respectively. While the unidimensional model of the friends subscale had a better fit with the data than the three-factor model, the two-factor model of the family subscale had a better fit than the unidimensional model, even though the unidimensional models of both subscales produced higher internal consistency coefficients. With respect to construct validity, the family subscale demonstrated some evidence of convergent and discriminant validity, but the friends subscale demonstrated some evidence of only discriminant validity, in terms of the association between social support and common mental illness and perceived stress. It appears that the Perceived Social Support subscales are useful instruments for assessing social support from family and friends and could therefore be used to further our understanding about the role of social support in stressful life events and psychological functioning of Ghanaian adolescents, although further research is required for the friends subscale.     

Self-presentation: Social skills and inconsistency as independent facets of self-monitoring

Using a German adaption of Snyder's (1974) Self-Monitoring scale, we show that the scale has two independent facets, which encompass different aspects that are central to the original theoretical concept. Replicated factor analyses of the SM item pool suggest two uncorrelated subscales of equal length. Compared to the total scale, these two subscales are not only more economical and more reliable, but also provide more conceptual clarity, as demonstrated in three validity studies. In particular, the Social Skills subscale taps various self-perceived social and acting skills and is related to uninhibited and spontaneous self-expressions in interpersonal situations. The Inconsistency subscale measures discrepancies between the overt expression of one's feelings, attitudes, and beliefs and the way the person actually experiences them. This scale relates to social anxiety, sensitivity to situational cues, and self-reported situational inconsistency. The two subscales are similar to factors recently identified for the original American scale. Based on this cross-cultural convergence the validity of the current Self-Monitoring research is discussed.     

Peer victimization and social anxiety in adolescence: a prospective study

This study reports a one‐year prospective investigation of the relations between overt and relational victimization and social anxiety and phobia in a sample of adolescents. The Social Experience Questionnaire—Self Report Form (SEQ‐S), Social Anxiety Scale for Adolescents (SAS‐A), and Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory for Children (SPAI‐C) were administered to 144 ninth grade adolescents. A follow‐up assessment with the SEQ‐S, SAS‐A, and SPAI‐C was conducted one year later. Results indicated that relational victimization predicted symptoms of social phobia but not general social anxiety and avoidance one year later. Overt victimization was not a significant predictor of social anxiety and phobia one year later. Social anxiety and phobia did not predict peer victimization one year later. However, increases in social anxiety and social phobia symptoms (for boys) over time were positively associated with increases in relational victimization over time. Implications of these findings for peer victimization and social anxiety in the development of social phobia and negative peer experiences are discussed. Aggr. Behav. 00:1–16, 2005. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Assessment of fear of fear among Agoraphobic patients: The Agoraphobic Cognitions Scale

A self-report scale for the measurement of fear of fear, the Agoraphobic Cognitions Scale (ACS), was psychometrically evaluated. Two samples of inpatients satisfying DSM-III-R criteria for unipolar depressive and/or anxiety disorder were studied. Intercorrelational and factor analyses indicated that the ACS measured three dimensions of fear of fear: fear of bodily incapacitation, fear of losing control, and fear of acting embarrassingly. Three subscales were constructed to measure these dimensions. The subscales proved to have satisfactory internal consistency and criterion-related validity. However, fear of losing control was related not only to other anxiety symptoms, but also to depressive symptomatology. Agoraphobic patients reported more fear of bodily incapacitation and fear of losing control than social phobic, generally anxious, and nonanxious depressed patients. Fear of embarrassing action was higher among agoraphobic and social phobic patients than among generally anxious and nonanxious depressed patients. These results were obtained after controlling for general anxiety and depression level and, thus, support the validity of the fear of fear construct.     

Construct validity of the Anxiety Sensitivity Index-3 in clinical samples

Using two clinical samples of patients, the presented studies examined the construct validity of the recently revised Anxiety Sensitivity Index-3 (ASI-3). Confirmatory factor analyses established a clear three-factor structure that corresponds to the postulated subdivision of the construct into correlated somatic, social, and cognitive components. Participants with different primary clinical diagnoses differed from each other on the ASI-3 subscales in theoretically meaningful ways. Specifically, the ASI-3 successfully discriminated patients with anxiety disorders from patients with nonanxiety disorders. Moreover, patients with panic disorder or agoraphobia manifested more somatic concerns than patients with other anxiety disorders and patients with nonanxiety disorders. Finally, correlations of the ASI-3 scales with other measures of clinical symptoms and negative affect substantiated convergent and discriminant validity. Substantial positive correlations were found between the ASI-3 Somatic Concerns and body vigilance, between Social Concerns and fear of negative evaluation and socially inhibited behavior, and between Cognitive Concerns and depression symptoms, anxiety, fear of negative evaluation, and subjective complaints. Moreover, Social Concerns correlated negatively with dominant and intrusive behavior. Results are discussed with respect to the contribution of the ASI-3 to the assessment of anxiety-related disorders.     

Psychometric Properties of the Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory, the Social Anxiety Scale for Adolescents, the Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale, and the Social Avoidance and Distress Scale in an Adolescent Spanish-Speaking Sample

The relationship among several social anxiety measures and a semistructured interview in an adolescent Spanish-speaking sample is examined. Construct validity and test-retest reliability were tested. A principal axis factor analysis was also explored. Results revealed good construct validity and alpha coefficients for the assessment instruments such as the Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory (SPAI), the Social Anxiety Scale for Adolescents (SAS-A), the Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale (FNES) and the Social Avoidance Distress Scale (SADS). Among these, data strongly support the validity of the Social Phobia and Difference measures of the SPAI and Total SAS-A score as assessment measures in the adolescent population even in non-American cultures and languages. Furthermore, results appear to support the presence of a single higher-order dimension, social anxiety, as measured by the instruments used in this study.     

A parent-report measure of children's anxiety: psychometric properties and comparison with child-report in a clinic and normal sample

This study examined the psychometric properties of the parent version of the Spence Children's Anxiety Scale (SCAS-P); 484 parents of anxiety disordered children and 261 parents in a normal control group participated in the study. Results of confirmatory factor analysis provided support for six intercorrelated factors, that corresponded with the child self-report as well as with the classification of anxiety disorders by DSM-IV (namely separation anxiety, generalized anxiety, social phobia, panic/agoraphobia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and fear of physical injuries). A post-hoc model in which generalized anxiety functioned as the higher order factor for the other five factors described the data equally well. The reliability of the subscales was satisfactory to excellent. Evidence was found for both convergent and divergent validity: the measure correlated well with the parent report for internalizing symptoms, and lower with externalizing symptoms. Parent-child agreement ranged from 0.41 to 0.66 in the anxiety-disordered group, and from 0.23 to 0.60 in the control group. The measure differentiated significantly between anxiety-disordered children versus controls, and also between the different anxiety disorders except GAD. The SCAS-P is recommended as a screening instrument for normal children and as a diagnostic instrument in clinical settings.     

Erratum to: A New Measure of the Maladaptive Self-Beliefs in Social Anxiety: Psychometric Properties in a Non-Clinical Sample

Clark and Wells’ (1995) model of social phobia proposes that there are three types of maladaptive self-beliefs responsible for persistent social anxiety (high standard, conditional, and unconditional beliefs). Although these beliefs are theoretically important, there currently is not a validated measure of these beliefs in the social anxiety literature. Hence, the Self-Beliefs Related to Social Anxiety (SBSA) Scale was developed (Wong and Moulds 2009) and its psychometric properties were examined in the current study using a non-clinical sample (N = 600). Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses ultimately indicated that a correlated three-factor solution optimally summarized the data with the three factors corresponding to the three belief types. The SBSA and its three subscales demonstrated good internal consistency and test-retest reliability, as well as convergent and divergent validity. The SBSA thus appears to have good psychometric properties and is appropriate for use in non-clinical samples. The potential applications of the SBSA and avenues for future research are discussed.     

The development of a physical education state anxiety scale: a preliminary study

The aim of the present study was to develop a measure of state anxiety for school physical education. The Physical Education State Anxiety Scale was designed to assess the basic anxiety dimensions plus the related cognitive processes. High school students (n = 631) completed the scale just prior to a test on two track and field tasks, in order to create a stressful condition. Data from the sample were randoml y split in two and subjected to exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, which supported the proposed three-factor structure of Worry, Cognitive Processes, and Somatic Anxiety. Internal consistency coefficients were acceptable. Moderate correlations among the subscale scores supported its construct validity. Results provide preliminary evidence for validity and reliability.     

The Spiritual Assessment Inventory: A Theistic Model and Measure for Assessing Spiritual Development

The Spiritual Assessment Inventory (SAI) is a relationally-based measure designed to assess two dimensions of spiritual development: Awareness of God and Quality of Relationship with God. The present article reports the results of two studies: exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses of a revised SAI, which replicated five factors, and a factor analysis of a revised SAI with a new Impression Management (IM) subscale. Results supported the factor structure of the SAI and the homogeneity of the IM scale. Correlations of the SAI subscales with the Spiritual Well-Being Scale, the Intrinsic/Extrinsic-Revised, the Bell Object Relations Inventory, the Defense Styles Questionnaire, and the Narcissistic Personality Inventory also supported the construct validity of the SAI. Two-step multiple regressions supported the incremental validity of the SAI. Suggestions for future research and implications for clinical use of the instrument are discussed.