title: The Mini-Social Phobia Inventory: psychometric properties in an adolescent general population sample.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Onset of social phobia (SP) typically occurs in adolescence. Short screening instruments for its assessment are needed for use in primary health and school settings. The 3-item Mini-Social Phobia Inventory (SPIN) has demonstrated effectiveness in screening for generalized SP (GSP) in adults. This study examined the psychometrics of the Mini-SPIN in an adolescent general population sample.
  
  
  METHODS
  Three hundred fifty adolescents aged 12 to 17 years were clinically interviewed using the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-Age Children-Present and Lifetime Version for identification of SP and other Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Axis I disorders, blind to their Mini-SPIN status. Associations between SP; subclinical SP; other anxiety, depressive, and disruptive disorders; and Mini-SPIN scores were examined, and diagnostic efficiency statistics were calculated. The association between Mini-SPIN scores and the generalized subtype of SP was also examined.
  
  
  RESULTS
  As in adults, the Mini-SPIN items differentiated subjects with SP from those without. A score of 6 points or greater was found optimal in predicting SP with a sensitivity of 86%, specificity of 84%, and positive and negative predictive values of 26% and 99%. The Mini-SPIN also possessed discriminative validity, as scores were higher for adolescents with SP than they were for those with depressive, disruptive, and other anxiety disorders. The Mini-SPIN was also able to differentiate adolescents with GSP from the rest of the sample.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The Mini-SPIN has good psychometrics for screening SP in adolescents from general population and may have value in screening for GSP.
authors.affiliation: Department of Adolescent Psychiatry, Tampere University Hospital, Box 2000, FI-33521 Tampere, Finland. klaus.ranta@pshp.fi
authors.forename: Klaus
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ranta
authors.forename: Riittakerttu
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kaltiala-Heino
authors.forename: Päivi
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Rantanen
authors.forename: Mauri
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Marttunen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening; D010555:Personality Inventory; D010698:Phobic Disorders / Q000145:classification / Q000517:prevention & control*; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012919:Social Behavior