Social Anxiety Scale for Adolescents (SAS-A): Psychometric properties in a Spanish-speaking population1

The objective of this instrumental study was to investigate the factor structure and the psychometric properties of the Social Anxiety Scale for Adolescents (SAS-A) in a Spanish-speaking population. The participants were 2407 subjects (1263 boys and 1144 girls), with an average age of 15 years approximately, attending nine public high schools in a medium size county in Spain. The results obtained support the three-factor structure proposed by the original authors (FNE, SAD-New, SAD-General). Significantly, interscale correlations and high levels of internal consistency for the SAS-A subscales were found. There were significant gender effects on the SAS-A/Total score and its subscales, with girls scoring higher. Although significant age differences were only found in the FNE subscale, no interaction effects between the two factors were obtained. Findings provide initial support for the use of the SAS-A among a Spanish-speaking adolescent population. Limitations and suggestions for future research are discussed.