Social Interaction Anxiety Scale

Questions of the SIAS assess a client's fear of interacting in social situations, gauge emotional aspects of the anxiety response, and do not refer to social apprehensiveness or concern about others' opinions in a general sense. The client rates how much each item relates to them on a 5-point scale as follows: • 0 points: Not at all characteristic of me • 1 point: Slightly characteristic of me • 2 points: Moderately characteristic of me • 3 points: Very characteristic of me • 4 points: Extremely characteristic of me The point values of the chosen answer choices are then summed to produce a total measure score. Sample items include "I worry about not knowing what to say in social situations" or "I am tense mixing in a group". == Clinical use ==

The SIAS measures social interaction anxiety, which refers to distress when meeting and talking with other people, whether they be friends, members of the opposite sex, or strangers. It can be used in clinics as a self-report screening tool in order to see if clients possess any social interaction anxiety. The SIAS discriminates between social anxiety and general anxiety as it has low associations with trait anxiety (a level of stress associated with an individual personality) and general distress. Beyond identifying those who experience social anxiety of some form, the scale can discriminate within the social anxiety class as well. Patients with social phobia score higher on the SIAS than other patients with another anxiety disorder, such as generalized anxiety disorder, or no disorder. In addition, patients with panic disorder and agoraphobia score higher than patients with specific phobia. == Reliability and validity ==

The SIAS has a normal distribution of scores, with those that experience social interaction anxiety scoring high, supporting the view that the scale identifies general fear regarding social interactions. meaning that different items on the test are correlated. In addition, the scale has high test-retest reliability, as it continues to correctly identify social anxiety and phobia after a period of time has passed. Validity The scale has high discriminant validity; not only is it able to discriminate between those with social phobia and healthy volunteers, but also between several different types of social phobia and anxiety. The SIAS is significantly correlated with the Social Phobia Scale (SPS), consistent with the observation that social interaction fears and social phobia scrutiny fears co-exist, although they are still two different sets of symptoms. It is strongly related to other related measures of social anxiety and social phobia, including the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (LSAS), Mini Social Phobia Inventory (mini-SPIN), Brief Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale (BFNE), the Fear of Positive Evaluation Scale (FPES), and the Interaction Anxiousness Scale. In addition, there are moderate to high correlations between the SIAS and other scales testing fear, depression, and locus of control, which are all related to social anxiety. In addition, the SIAS responds to change and improvement in symptoms due to treatment. == Limitations ==

Although the SIAS is used widely in clinical psychology, it is not without its limitations. Because the scale is self-report subjects are able to falsify responses in order to be socially desirable. == References ==