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This paper presents the psychometric properties of a new measure of social anxiety, the Social Anxiety Questionnaire for adults (SAQ), composed of 30 items that were developed based on participants from 16 Latin American countries, Spain, and Portugal. Two groups of participants were included in the study: a non-clinical group involving 18,133 persons and a clinical group comprising 334 patients with a diagnosis of social anxiety disorder (social phobia). Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses supported a 5-factor structure of the questionnaire. The factors were labeled: 1) Interactions with strangers, 2) Speaking in public/talking with people in authority, 3) Interactions with the opposite sex, 4) Criticism and embarrassment, and 5) Assertive expression of annoyance, disgust or displeasure. Psychometric evidence supported the internal consistency, convergent validity, and measurement invariance of the SAQ. To facilitate clinical applications, a ROC analysis identified cut scores for men and women for each factor and for the global score.

Sex differences between men and women in social anxiety are largely unexplored. This study sought to shed some light on this topic. We administered self-report measures of social anxiety to community samples of 17,672 women and 13,440 men from 16 Latin American countries, Spain and Portugal, as well as to a clinical sample of 601 patients diagnosed with social anxiety disorder. Small but significant differences were found between men and women in the general degree of social anxiety and self-reported fears of interactions with the opposite sex, criticism and embarrassment, and speaking in public-talking to people in authority. These results point to small, but meaningful differences between men and women in social anxiety. Implications of these results for the self-report measurement of social anxiety in men and women are discussed.

Objective:To examine the psychometric properties of the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale-Self Report (LSAS-SR) based on a large sample recruited from 16 Latin American countries, Spain, and Portugal.Methods:Two groups of participants were included: a non-clinical sample involving 31,243 community subjects and a clinical sample comprising 529 patients with a diagnosis of social anxiety disorder (SAD). Exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM) were used in order to determine the psychometric properties of the LSAS-SR.Results:EFA identified five factors with eigenvalues greater than 1.00 explaining 50.78% of the cumulative variance. CFA and ESEM supported this 5-factor structure of the LSAS-SR. The factors included: 1) speaking in public; 2) eating/drinking in front of other people; 3) assertive behaviors; 4) working/writing while being observed; and 5) interactions with strangers. Other psychometric properties such as inter-factor correlations, invariance, reliability, and validity of the scale were also found.Conclusion:Psychometric data support the internal consistency and convergent validity of the LSAS-SR. It seems to be a valid and reliable measure of global social anxiety for Spanish and Portuguese-speaking countries, although when considering a multidimensional approach (factor-based assessment) it seems to be lacking some relevant social situations that are feared in those countries.

The aim of this study was to examine the possible relationship between physical and psychological aggression suffered in the workplace and professional burnout, depression and anxiety suffered by healthcare professionals of the emergency services. Methods: 315 physicians, nurses, orderlies and ambulance drivers of Critical Care and Emergency Devices (CCED) in the Andalusian Public Health System, in the province of Granada (Spain) participated. They were interviewed about the exposure to violence at work and answered a battery of questions that measured burnout, depression and anxiety. Results: Physical aggression was significantly related to emotional exhaustion, personal accomplishment at work, depression and anxiety. Psychological aggression was associated with personal accomplishment. Logistic regression showed that the CCED professionals who have suffered physical aggression were 4.2 and 2.6 times more likely to have suffered anxiety and reduced personal accomplishment, respectively, than those who did not suffer physical aggression. On the other hand, feelings of anxiety and reduced personal accomplishment increase the professionals’ risk (3.4 and 2.1 times more likely, respectively) of suffering from physical aggression. Conclusion: The results suggest that exposure to violence is related to the other psychological problems tested: emotional exhaustion and personal accomplishment (two components of burnout), depression and anxiety. In addition, physical violence is a risk factor for anxiety and diminished personal accomplishment of the CCED professionals.

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