Adaptation and initial psychometric study of the self-report version of Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (LSAS-SR)

Abstract

Objective. The objectives of the present study were to adapt the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale from the clinician administered to the self-report version (LSAS-SR) and to perform the initial psychometric studies concerning internal consistency and item analysis. Methods. The phase of adaptation was performed by two specialists in the Mental Health area and the face validity was tested by a group of 30 university students. As part of the psychometric study of the LSAS-SR, the internal consistency was assessed and the items were analyzed by applying the scale to 682 university students. Results. The LSAS-SR proved to be easy to understand by the group studied, with no need to make any changes in the instructions for application. The scale showed adequate internal consistency (α = 0.96) as well as an acceptable correlation between items and total score (0.38–0.72). Conclusions. The initial psychometric studies of the LSAS-SR presented adequate indicators, stimulating the continuation of studies involving the validation and reliability of the scale not only when applied to a sample of the general population, but also when applied to clinical groups.

Key Words::

• Social phobia
• social anxiety
• psychometry
• scale
• validity

Acknowledgements

We wish to thank C. Meneses-Gaya, L.M Lima and C.A. Baptista for help with data collection.

Statement of interest

None to declare.