Relationships Among Social Anxiety Measures and Their Invariance1

Abstract

Summary: Social phobia is becoming increasingly recognized as an important disorder among adolescents. The body of research on assessment measures in adolescents with social phobia has grown considerably. Unfortunately, little is known about the relationship among these measures and its invariance across clinical and community samples. The objective of the present study is to examine this issue. Results show that all of these measures are invariant among samples and assess a single higher-order factor, labeled as “social anxiety,” although each measure appears to tap a specific symptom (cognitive, behavioral, and somatic). Further, results do support the Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory (SPAI) and the Social Anxiety Scale for Adolescents (SAS-A) as first-line assessment measures for adolescents' social anxiety.