Abstract

DE LA RUBIA, José Moral; GARCIA CADENA, Cirilo Humberto  and  ANTONA CASAS, César Jesús. Validation of the Social Interaction Anxiety Scale among Mexican College Students. Pensam. psicol. [online]. 2013, vol.11, n.1, pp.27-42. ISSN 1657-8961.

Objective. The purpose of this research was to validate the Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (SIAS-20; Mattick & Clarke, 1998) with a student population of a Mexican university. In particular, the intention was to validate the unidimensional structure of the SIAS-20, calculate its internal consistency, describe its distribution, compare differences in averages between genders, prove its criterion validity with the social phobia factor of the anxiety and social phobia inventory ([SPAI] of Turner, Beidel, Dancu & Stanley, 1989) and its convergent validity with the Self-Statements During Public Speaking Scale ([SSPS] of Hofmann & DiBartolo, 2000), as well as studying its relationship with a social desirability inventory (Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding [BIDR]; Paulhus, 1998). Method. A probabilistic sample of college students stratified by sex was collected. Results. Excluding the three negatively-keyed items of the SIAS-20, the single-factor model showed a good fit. Also, the internal consistency of the SIAS-17 was high, and its distribution was positively skewed. The averages were statistically equivalent between men and women. The scale showed criterion validity with the SPAI and convergent validity with the SSPS. The correlation with social desirability was low. Conclusion. In conclusion, the scale is valid for use with the Mexican university student population. It is recommend that future studies focus on its standardization by percentiles in Mexico, as well as in other Spanish-speaking countries.

Keywords : Social phobia; psychometrics; diagnosis; scaling; social desirability; Mexico.

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