Abstract
Objective:
The aim of the present study evaluate psychometric properties of the Social Anxiety for Adolescents (SAS-A) in Turkish sample. SAS-A consists of 18 items divided into 3 subscales: Fear of Negative Evaluation (FNE), General Social Avoidance and Distress (SAD-G) and Social Avoidance and Distress in New Situations (SAD-N).
Method:
The psychometric properties of SAS-A were examined on a sample of 1242 (643 girls, 599 boys) adolescents between 12-15 years of age.
Results:
Results replicated a three-factor structure for the SAS-A. Reliability estimates by Cronbach alpha and Split half coefficients were acceptable for the SAS-A subscales and total. The SAS-A demonstrated good construct validity, showing statistically significant relationships with other social phobia (ÇESFÖ) and trait anxiety (STAI-C-T) measures. In addition moderate interrelationship among the subscales were observed. The comparison of SAS-A scores between girls and boys showed significant differences on FNE and SAD-G subscales. Girls scored significantly higher than boys on the FNE whereas boys scored higher than girls on the SAD-G.
Discussion:
These findings suggest that the validity and the reliability of SAS-A were satisfactory for the Turkish elementary school sample.
Keywords: Social anxiety, adolescent, scale, reliability, validity, factor structure
