title: The SPAI-18, a brief version of the social phobia and anxiety inventory: reliability and validity in clinically referred and non-referred samples.
abstract: We developed a new version of the Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory (SPAI) in order to have a brief instrument for measuring social anxiety and social anxiety disorder (SAD) with a strong conceptual foundation. In the construction phase, a set of items representing 5 core aspects of social anxiety was selected by a panel of social anxiety experts. The selected item pool was validated using factor analysis, reliability analysis, and diagnostic analysis in a sample of healthy participants (N = 188) and a sample of clinically referred participants diagnosed with SAD (N = 98). This procedure resulted in an abbreviated version of the Social Phobia Subscale of the SPAI consisting of 18 items (i.e. the SPAI-18), which correlated strongly with the Social Phobia Subscale of the original SPAI (both groups r = .98). Internal consistency and diagnostic characteristics using a clinical cut-off score > 48 were good to excellent (Cronbach's alpha healthy group = .93; patient group = .91; sensitivity: .94; specificity: .88). The SPAI-18 was further validated in a community sample of parents-to-be without SAD (N = 237) and with SAD (N = 65). Internal consistency was again excellent (both groups Cronbach's alpha = .93) and a screening cut-off of > 36 proved to result in good sensitivity and specificity. The SPAI-18 also correlated strongly with other social anxiety instruments, supporting convergent validity. In sum, the SPAI-18 is a psychometrically sound instrument with good screening capacity for social anxiety disorder in clinical as well as community samples.
authors.affiliation: Research Institute Child Development and Education, University of Amsterdam, Nieuwe Prinsengracht 130, 1018 VZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Electronic address: w.devente@uva.nl.
authors.forename: Wieke
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: de Vente
authors.affiliation: Research Institute Child Development and Education, University of Amsterdam, Nieuwe Prinsengracht 130, 1018 VZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Mirjana
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Majdandžić
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Psychological Science, Maastricht University, P.O. Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Marisol J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Voncken
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Central Florida, 4000 Central Florida Boulevard, Orlando, FL 32816, United States.
authors.forename: Deborah C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Beidel
authors.affiliation: Research Institute Child Development and Education, University of Amsterdam, Nieuwe Prinsengracht 130, 1018 VZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Susan M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Bögels
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010698:Phobic Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011594:Psychometrics; D012017:Referral and Consultation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Anxiety disorders; Psychometric properties; Social anxiety disorder; Social phobia