Social Anxiety Questionnaire: A New Scale to Measure Social Phobia
Social anxiety or social phobia is the most common anxiety disorder and affects millions of Americans. The effects of social anxiety can be quite devastating. There are several scales that have been developed to assess social anxiety in people, but there are few scales that consist of less than 20 items. The Social Anxiety Questionnaire, a 14-item scale to measure social anxiety, was tested on 89 college students and compared to the Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (Mattick & Clarke, 1998) and Eysenck's Introversion Scale (Eysenck. 1970; 1971) for validity. The psychometric properties of the scale, future directions for research, and practical applications of the scale are discussed.
The Social Anxiety Questionnaire: A New Scale to Measure Social Phobia
Social anxiety disorder (also known as social phobia) consists of feelings of apprehension, worry, or nervousness concerning being placed in situations where one may interact with others or may be scrutinized by others (Weeks, Heimberg, Rodebaugh, & Norton, 2008). Nearly everyone experiences some degree of anxiety pertaining to specific social situations, but a social anxiety disorder is identified when this level of anxiety is extreme, unrealistic, and out of proportion to the situation (American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2000). Most often the anxiety in this disorder is derived from the anticipation that an individual has of being evaluated by others or that he/she will be nervous or anxious in front of others and they will see this. The fear or apprehension of being in unfamiliar social situations or of being evaluated by others is so intense that the individual may not be able to carry out their normal functions, will often experience extreme anxiety when imagining themselves in these situations, and may attempt to avoid social situations that provoke these feelings all together (Anthony, 1997). Social anxiety disorders can present in a number of different manners including the fear of eating or drinking in front of others, the fear of performing in front of others (writing, working, or speaking), or fears of interacting with people. According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual -IV-Text Revision social anxiety disorder or social phobia is the most common anxiety disorder and social anxiety is the third most common mental disorder in the United States affecting over 15 million people a year (APA, 2000). Social anxiety disorders often originate in adolescence and are more common in women than in men (Anthony, 1997). However, the effects of social anxiety disorder can be devastating to children, adolescents, and adults. Therefore psychometric instruments to assess for social anxiety can be useful in the diagnosis and treatment of the disorder (Anthony, 1997; Heimberg & Turk, 2002).
There have been several scales developed to measure social anxiety in individuals (Anthony, 1997; Mattick & Clarke, 1998); however, there are few scales that contain fewer than 20 items. The goal of the current study was to develop a scale of social anxiety that was succinct and yet valid and reliable.
Method
Participants
Eighty-nine college students were contacted via email and took the surveys online using a computer. There was no information gathered regarding the age, sex, level of education, or ethnic background of the participants.
Measures
The Social Anxiety Questionnaire
The Social Anxiety Questionnaire was developed by the author who spent time studying other questionnaires and borrowing questions and ideas from them. The final scale consisted of 14 statements regarding the subjective experience of anxiety in social situations (see Table One for the 14 items in the questionnaire). Statements were worded in a fist person format and each item was answered on a five-point Likert scale ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree with the middle point being a neutral point (neither agree or disagree). In addition to the Social Anxiety Questionnaire two other measures were used in this study for convergent validity comparison purposes.
Social Interaction Anxiety Scale
The Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (SIAS; Mattick & Clarke, 1998), which measures anxiety regarding social interactions, is still one of the more widely used self-report measures of social anxiety. There have been many empirical studies demonstrating this scale's excellent reliability...
Integrative Approach to Psychotherapy Social Anxiety Disorder Case Example The film Elling presents a story of Elling, the seventh in a family of nine musically-talented children, who is only six when his and his brothers' musical talents are discovered by a visiting tycoon who then offers to sponsor the family troupe on a merry-go-round of public performances. During one of his first performances, Elling runs off-stage, afraid of the flashing lights and the
Psychology Theory Demographic Information Mr. C, a 38-year-old married male recently contacted a faculty anxiety clinic seeking treatment. At the time he contacted the centre, he self-reported that he experiences social anxiety in different settings, for instance, when talking to strangers, speaking or writing in front of a group, and/or in hostile situations. Furthermore, Mr. C also reported that he often avoided settings such as the ones mentioned above because of social
Final Topic: Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) Dryman, T., Gardner, S., Weeks, J.W. & Heimberg, R.G. (2015). Social anxiety disorder and quality of life: How fears of negative and positive evaluation relate to specific domains of life satisfaction. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 38, 1-8. The authors of the present article point out that SAD has been associated with poor quality of life. Indeed, according to the authors, persons diagnosed with SAD appear to
For both the Leary Social Anxiousness and UCLA Loneliness scales, both are established scales in the sense that they are commonly used as standard measures of social anxiety and loneliness, respectively. Its usage in the context of mobile phone use is just one way manner in which these scales can be administered (Balvanes and Caputi, 2001, 82). Since these scales help determine the level of social anxiety and loneliness
Rather than grow upset or angry or feel sorry for himself, Gimpel cultivated a persona that ironically had everyone else in the town looking like fools. While Gimpel knew what the others were up to, they did not realize how wise Gimpel actually was. Gimpel was aware throughout his life that people were playing jokes on him and therefore he never really was taken in; he only played the fool
Theories of Etiology (Causes) of the Social Anxiety Disorder Subordination Stress Model Primates depend on establishing social relationships, and like men, laboratory assessments can be conducted to study their behavior. Studies that focused on nonhuman primates in an informal setting concerning dominance and subordination targeted female cynomolgus monkeys. The study established that subordinates dedicated more time living alone where they scanned their social world with fear. This is unlike the dominants who
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now