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A Review of Scales to Measure Social Anxiety Disorder in Clinical and Epidemiological Studies

  • Anxiety Disorders (A Pelissolo, Section Editor)
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Abstract

To advance research into social anxiety disorder (SAD) and provide efficacious treatments for individuals with SAD, researchers and clinicians must have effective assessment instruments for identifying the disorder in terms of its diagnostic criteria, symptoms, and the presence of specific maintaining factors. This review highlights the main lines of existing adult and youth research on scales that form part of diagnostic instruments that assess SAD, scales that measure social anxiety symptoms, and scales that measure theory-based psychological maintaining factors associated with SAD. The review also highlights methodological issues that impact on the use of the aforementioned scales. The continued refinement and comparative evaluation of measures for SAD, culminating in the ascertainment of optimal measures, will improve the assessment and identification of the disorder. Improved identification of the disorder will contribute to the advancement of SAD research and treatment.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by a National Health and Medical Research Council Early Career Fellowship (APP1037618) awarded to Dr. Quincy J.J. Wong.

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  1. Centre for Emotional Health, Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia

    Quincy J. J. Wong, Bree Gregory & Lauren F. McLellan

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Correspondence to Quincy J. J. Wong.

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Bree Gregory and Lauren F. McLellan declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Quincy J.J. Wong reports grants from National Health and Medical Research Council.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Anxiety Disorders

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Wong, Q.J.J., Gregory, B. & McLellan, L.F. A Review of Scales to Measure Social Anxiety Disorder in Clinical and Epidemiological Studies. Curr Psychiatry Rep 18, 38 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-016-0677-2

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