Social Phobia Scrutiny Fear Scale [SPSFS-20]

Description

The Social Phobia Scrutiny Fear Scale (SPSFS-20), commonly referred to as the Social Phobia Scale (SPS), is a 20-item self-report instrument designed to assess fear and anxiety associated with being observed, scrutinized, or evaluated by others.

It focuses on situations in which individuals may feel exposed while performing everyday activities in the presence of other people.

Purpose

The main purpose of the SPSFS-20 is to measure scrutiny-related fear, a central component of social anxiety. It provides an indication of the severity of anxiety experienced in situations where an individual believes that their behavior may be noticed or judged by others.

Scoring

The 20 items are typically rated on a 5-point scale from 0 to 4. The total score is calculated by summing the individual item scores, with higher scores indicating greater levels of scrutiny-related social anxiety.

Psychometric Properties

The scale has demonstrated high internal consistency, satisfactory test-retest reliability, and good construct validity. It has also shown the ability to distinguish individuals with elevated social anxiety from clinical and non-clinical comparison groups.

Applications

The SPSFS-20 can be used in clinical psychology, mental health research, and intervention studies, particularly for assessing social anxiety severity, monitoring changes in symptoms, and evaluating the effectiveness of psychological treatments.

Reference

Mattick, R. P., & Clarke, J. C. (1998). Development and validation of measures of social phobia scrutiny fear and social interaction anxiety. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 36(4), 455–470.