An investigation of the psychometric properties of the Social Thoughts and Beliefs Scale (STABS) and structure of cognitive symptoms in participants with social anxiety disorder and healthy controls☆

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Highlights

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    Investigation of psychometric properties of Social Thoughts and Beliefs Scale.

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    Study 1 evaluated factor structure, convergent validity, and internal consistency.

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    Study 2 evaluated sensitivity to detect changes during treatment.

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    Findings were supportive of single factor/scale interpretation of STABS.

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    Findings may support single unidimensional cognitive construct for social anxiety.

Abstract

Despite the recent increase of measures developed to assess the cognitive symptoms of social anxiety disorder (SOC), their validation is still largely preliminary. Thus, the present studies sought to replicate and extend the psychometric evaluation of the Social Thoughts and Beliefs Scale (STABS). Study 1 involved both participants with SOC (n = 206) and healthy controls (n = 222) that completed the STABS and other related measures of anxiety. In Study 2, participants with SOC (n = 66) completed exposure-based psychotherapy for SOC with the STABS used to track symptom changes. Together, the two studies provided additional support for the validity and reliability of the STABS as a measure of the cognitive symptoms of SOC. However, contrary to previous research with two subscales, a single total scale was suggested as the best interpretation of the STABS, as well as the possible general presentation of the cognitive symptoms of SOC.

Section snippets

Study 1

The primary goal of Study 1 was to replicate and extend the factor structure previously identified in the STABS (Fergus et al., 2009, Turner et al., 2003) in a large sample of participants with clinically diagnosed SOC as well as HC. Based on the findings from the factor analytic investigation, additional goals involved investigating the internal consistency, convergent and discriminate validity, and ability to differentiate clinical and healthy samples of the resulting factor(s). All analyses

Study 2

The primary goal of Study 2 was to investigate the sensitivity of the STABS to detect symptom changes during the course of evidence-based psychotherapy within a randomized controlled trial. A subsample of participants with SOC from Study 1 completed one of two psychotherapies for SOC (exposure alone or SET) or a waitlist control. The STABS scales were investigated for pre- to post-treatment differences across these two treatment conditions (active treatment vs. waitlist control).

General discussion

The present study investigated the psychometric properties of the STABS as a measure of the cognitive symptoms of SOC. A mixed pattern of findings was identified across the various psychometric evaluations in the present studies. Although the 2F factor structure of the STABS was supported in the combined sample of participants with SOC and HC, the more homogeneous subgroups (SOC and HC) evidenced inadequate fit indices for the 1F and 2F models. The model fit also was inconsistent across the two

Conclusions

The present studies provided additional support for the validity and reliability of the STABS as a measure of cognitive symptoms of SOC. The findings may support a different factor model than the previous CFA study involving an unselected student sample, suggesting that the total scale (1F) could be interpreted on its own, rather than or in addition to the separate subscales for Social Comparison and Social Ineptness. This suggestion was further supported by replication of very strong

Conflicts of interest

There are no conflicts of interest to disclose.

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    ☆

    This study is supported by NIMH Grant R01MH062547 (PI: Deborah C. Beidel, Ph.D. and Samuel M. Turner, Ph.D.) and Department of Veteran Affairs Clinical Sciences Research and Development Career Development Award CX000845 (PI: Daniel F. Gros). The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the position or policy of the Department of Veterans Affairs, NIMH, or the United States government.

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