Psychometric Evaluation of the Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory for Children: Concurrent Validity and Normative Data

Abstract

Examined the relation of the Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory for Children (SPAI-C) to the Social Anxiety Scale for Children-Revised (SASC-R). The association between the SPAI-C and the SASC-R was moderate, suggesting that the measures assess overlapping, although not identical, constructs. Initial normative data are reported on the SPAI-C for a community sample of 277 4th-through 6th-grade children. Girls reported higher social anxiety on both measures than did boys. Notably, a substantial proportion of children were found to exceed suggested cut-off scores on both measures for identifying children with high levels of social anxiety, which suggests the importance of screening elementary-age children for social fears.