Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, University of Bern, Fabrikstrasse 8, 3012, Bern, Switzerland.
School of Social Work, University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland, Olten, Switzerland.
BMC Psychiatry. 2023 Sep 4;23(1):646. doi: 10.1186/s12888-023-05142-8.
The Social Phobia Scale (SPS) and the Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (SIAS) are widely used self-report questionnaires to assess symptoms of social anxiety. While SPS measures social performance anxiety, SIAS measures social interaction anxiety. They are mostly reported simultaneously, but there have not been consistent results of the joint factor structure and therefore no consistent recommendations on how to use and evaluate the questionnaires. This study aimed (1) to evaluate the underlying joint factor structure of the SPS and SIAS and (2) to test whether SPS and SIAS are reliable scales to assess two different aspects of social anxiety.
The one-factor, two-factor, and bifactor models were tested in a clinical sample recruited from the community and diagnosed with a social anxiety disorder. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted, bifactor-specific indices were calculated, and the content of the less fitting items was examined.
Confirmatory factor analyses showed that the best-fitting model was the bifactor model with a reduced set of items. The bifactor-specific indices showed that the factor structure cannot be considered unidimensional and that SPS and SIAS are reliable subscales. A closer examination of the less fitting item content and implications for future studies are discussed.
In conclusion, SPS and SIAS can be reported together as an overall score of social anxiety and are separately reliable measures to assess different aspects of social anxiety.
This is a secondary analysis of data from two trials registered under ISRCTN75894275 and ISRCTN10627379.
社交恐惧症量表（SPS）和社交互动焦虑量表（SIAS）是广泛用于评估社交焦虑症状的自评问卷。SPS 测量社交表现焦虑，SIAS 测量社交互动焦虑。它们通常同时报告，但联合因子结构的结果并不一致，因此对于如何使用和评估问卷没有一致的建议。本研究旨在：（1）评估 SPS 和 SIAS 的潜在联合因子结构；（2）测试 SPS 和 SIAS 是否是评估社交焦虑两个不同方面的可靠量表。
采用来自社区的临床样本，对患有社交焦虑障碍的患者进行了单因素、双因素和双因素模型测试。进行了探索性和验证性因素分析，计算了双因素特定指标，并检查了拟合不良项目的内容。
验证性因素分析表明，最适合的模型是具有简化项目集的双因素模型。双因素特定指标表明，因子结构不能被认为是单维的，SPS 和 SIAS 是可靠的子量表。进一步检查拟合不良项目的内容及其对未来研究的影响。
总之，SPS 和 SIAS 可以作为社交焦虑的总体评分一起报告，并且是分别评估社交焦虑不同方面的可靠测量工具。
这是在 ISRCTN75894275 和 ISRCTN10627379 两项试验注册数据的二次分析。
