The German Version of the Gaze Anxiety Rating Scale (GARS): Reliability and Validity

Abstract

ObjectiveFear of eye gaze and avoidance of eye contact are core features of social anxiety disorders (SAD). To measure self-reported fear and avoidance of eye gaze, the Gaze Anxiety Rating Scale (GARS) has been developed and validated in recent years in its English version. The main objectives of the present study were to psychometrically evaluate the German translation of the GARS concerning its reliability, factorial structure, and validity.MethodsThree samples of participants were enrolled in the study. (1) A non-patient sample (n = 353) completed the GARS and a set of trait questionnaires to assess internal consistency, test-retest reliability, factorial structure, and concurrent and divergent validity. (2) A sample of patients with SAD (n = 33) was compared to a healthy control group (n = 30) regarding their scores on the GARS and the trait measures.ResultsThe German GARS fear and avoidance scales exhibited excellent internal consistency and high stability over 2 and 4 months, as did the original version. The English version’s factorial structure was replicated, yielding two categories of situations: (1) everyday situations and (2) situations involving high evaluative threat. GARS fear and avoidance displayed convergent validity with trait measures of social anxiety and were markedly higher in patients with GSAD than in healthy controls. Fear and avoidance of eye contact in situations involving high levels of evaluative threat related more closely to social anxiety than to gaze anxiety in everyday situations.ConclusionsThe German version of the GARS has demonstrated reliability and validity similar to the original version, and is thus well suited to capture fear and avoidance of eye contact in different social situations as a valid self-report measure of social anxiety and related disorders in the social domain for use in both clinical practice and research.

No evidence that gaze anxiety predicts gaze avoidance behavior during face-to-face social interaction

“…Empirical evidence demonstrating that socially anxious individuals actually exhibit gaze avoidance is far more equivocal than expected 7 – 9 . On the one hand, and in line with clinical observations 21 , 22 and SAD patients’ self-reports 23 , research has shown that individuals with sub-clinically and clinically relevant social anxiety levels display gaze patterns consistent with avoiding gaze 6 , 24 . On the other hand, however, there is also evidence of normal or increased eye gaze in socially anxious individuals 25 .…”

“…With these considerations in mind, we set out to study whether self-reported gaze anxiety is associated with gaze behavior in naturalistic, face-to-face social interactions. For that purpose, we a priori created groups of participants reporting either high or low levels of gaze anxiety using the Gaze Anxiety Rating Scale 20 , 23 . To generate comparable experimental conditions across participating groups, participants then performed a semi-structured interaction (“fast-friends procedure” 42 ) with a previously unknown individual reporting a medium level of gaze anxiety.…”

Studying “natural” eye movements in an “unnatural” social environment: The influence of social activity, framing, and sub-clinical traits on gaze aversion

“…A further limitation in our study is the scale we used to measure social anxiety traits. Although the GARS positively correlates with other measures associated with Social Anxiety (i.e., the Leibowitz Social Anxiety Scale), it is not a measure of social anxiety and is in fact a different construct of anxiety-driven gaze avoidance (Domes, Marx, Spenthof, & Heinrichs, 2016; Liebowitz, 1987). As such, although we found gaze aversion differences in participants who scored highly in GARS scores, this is not very surprising as it is exactly what that scale is supposed to measure.…”

Conditional effects of gaze on automatic imitation: the role of autistic traits

“…These are widely used self-report scales that evaluate two different categories of feared situations in social anxiety disorders: those related to being observed by others (SPS), and those related to social interaction (SIAS). Finally, the German version of the Gaze Anxiety Rating Scale (GARS) was used to measure self-reported fear and avoidance of making eye contact in social situations 34 .…”