Assessment of Anxiety in Social Interaction and Being Observed by Others: The Social Interaction Anxiety Scale and the Social Phobia Scale

Authors

Richard G. Heimberg, University at Albany, State University of New York
Gregory P. Mueller, University at Albany, State University of New York
Craig S. Holt, University at Albany, State University of New York
Debra A. Hope, University at Albany, State University of New YorkFollow
Michael R. Liebowitz, New York State Psychiatric Institute

ORCID IDs

Debra A. Hope

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

Winter 1992

Citation

Behavior Therapy 23:1 (Winter 1992), pp. 53–73.

doi: 10.1016/S0005-7894(05)80308-9

Comments

Copyright © 1992 Association for Advancement of Behavior Therapy; published by Elsevier. Used by permission.

Abstract

Social phobia has become a focus of increased research since its inclusion in DSM-III. However, assessment of social phobia has remained an underdeveloped area, especially self-report assessment. Clinical researchers have relied on measures that were developed on college populations, and these measures may not provide sufficient coverage of the range of situations feared by social phobic individuals. There is a need for additional instruments that consider differences in the types of situations (social interaction vs. situations involving observation by others) that may be feared by social phobics and between subgroups of social phobic patients. This study provides validational data on two instruments developed by Mattick and Clarke (1989): the Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (SIAS), a measure of anxiety in social interactional situations, and the Social Phobia Scale (SPS), a measure of anxiety in situations involving observation by others. These data support the use of the SIAS and SPS in the assessment of individuals with social phobia.