Somatic Symptom Disorder (SSD) refers to one or more symptoms that cause distress or a significant disruption in one's daily life and is correlated with poor Quality of Life and psychological distress, as well as an increased burden on health services. Therefore, its identification and treatment are of great importance because of the high prevalence and cost of this syndrome. The present study aimed to evaluate the factor structure, as well as the validity and reliability of the 8-Item Somatic Symptom Scale (SSS-8) in a non-clinical sample of Iranian society. Methods: The study participants included 281 individuals, who referred to Taleghani Hospital as the patients' companions. After obtaining their informed consent, the participants answered Beck anxiety inventory, general health, SSS-8, and somatic symptoms 12 questionnaires. After completing the questionnaires, the collected data were analyzed by SPSS v. 24 and LISREL software. Results: Confirmatory factor analysis indicated that gastrointestinal problems, pain, fatigue, and cardiopulmonary complaints were the general factor loadings of somatic symptoms. Besides, the 8-item Somatic Symptom Scale had good internal consistency. Regarding validity, the 8-question scale showed a positive correlation with the Beck anxiety inventory (r=0.70), general health questionnaire (r=0.70) and, somatic symptoms 12 (r=0.52). Conclusion: The findings provided preliminary support for the validity and reliability of the scores derived from the 8-item Somatic Symptom Scale. This scale can be used to evaluate the severity of somatic symptoms of patients referring to health clinics. Additionally, it is beneficial for interested researchers to investigate this disorder and its complications.

Background: Social appearance anxiety refers to the fear of negative evaluation and judgment about appearance in social situations. Previous scales have focused more on body dysmorphic, and a tool that can measure this anxiety in social situations has not been previously introduced. Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the factor structure and psychometric properties of the Social Appearance Anxiety Scale (SAAS) in the student community. Methods: This psychometric study was conducted on a sample of 415 Iranian students in 2020 using the convenience sampling method. The participants completed the Social Physique Anxiety Scale, Body Dysmorphic Scale, and Body Shape Scale. Cronbach’s alpha, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), exploratory factor analysis (EFA), and convergent validity were used to examine internal consistency. The data were analyzed using SPSS software (version 24) and AMOS software (version 21). Results: Cronbach’s alpha for total score was 0.95. The relationship between the SAAS and Body Dysmorphic Scale (r = 0.73; P < 0.01), Body Shape Scale (r = 0.46; P < 0.01), and Social Physique Anxiety Scale (r = 0.79; P < 0.01) showed good convergent validity. The EFA extracted one factor that explained 0.60 of the total variance. After testing the one-factor model in CFA, the analysis showed good fitness indexes (comparative fit index = 0.95; goodness of fit index = 0.91). The item-total correlation of the Iranian SAAS was within a range of 0.51 - 0.84. Conclusions: The present scale has a high internal consistency and reliability and can be used for research and evaluation objectives in clinical settings in Iranian society.

Background: Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) and social anxiety are two concepts related to body dissatisfaction. These concepts have been linked to sociocultural attitudes to appearances and painful experiences in interpersonal relationships. Objectives: The present study examines the relationship between childhood traumas with social appearance anxiety (SAA) and BDD through the mediating role of sociocultural attitudes toward appearance (SATA). Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 415 university students in Tehran, Iran using the convenience sampling method in 2019 - 2020. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 24 and Amos version 21 software. Results: According to our results, while childhood traumas were not directly related to BDD (β = 0.059; SE = 0.31), SAA seemed to play a statistically significant mediating role (β = 0.17; SE = 0.005). Moreover, childhood trauma was related to SAA both directly (β = 0.24; SE = 0.001) and through the mediating role of SATA. In addition, SATA (β = 0.17; SE = 0.005) significantly predicted BDD (β = 0.27, P < 0.001). The assumed model was in good fit with the acquired data (CFI = 0.97, GFI = 0.95, NFI = 0.94, RMSEA = 0.046). Conclusions: Children who have had traumatic experiences may experience anxiety and self-doubt. Thus, childhood traumas are ostensibly related to signs of BDD and SAA through the mediation of sociocultural attitudes. Childhood traumas can also predict susceptibility to rejection in interpersonal relationships. However, no results have been found to mediate rejection sensitivity concerning trauma with BDD and SAA.

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