Social anxiety across ethnicity: a confirmatory factor analysis of the FNE and SAD. J Anxiety Disord 2010 Oct;24(7):680-5
Date
06/12/2010Pubmed ID
20537507DOI
10.1016/j.janxdis.2010.04.011Scopus ID
2-s2.0-77955586021 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site) 18 CitationsAbstract
Previous research has established that social anxiety occurs at different rates in African American and European American populations (Grant et al., 2005), while psychometric investigations of widely used measures of psychopathology show differences in factor structure based on ethnic background (Carter, Miller, Sbrocco, Suchday, & Lewis, 1999; Chapman, Williams, Mast, & Woodruff-Borden, 2009). The current study examined response characteristics of 1276 African American and European American undergraduates completing the Fear of Negative Evaluation and Social Avoidance and Distress Scales (Watson & Friend, 1969). Confirmatory factor analyses failed to demonstrate factorial invariance in the two ethnic samples, and Wald tests suggested several items on both measures be dropped for African Americans. Results suggest the FNE and SAD operate differently across ethnic groups. Implications for the cross-cultural measurement of social anxiety and the importance of continued rigorous psychometric inquiry of commonly used measures are discussed.
Author List
Melka SE, Lancaster SL, Adams LJ, Howarth EA, Rodriguez BFAuthor
Stephen E. Melka PhD Assistant Professor in the Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine department at Medical College of WisconsinMESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold
AnxietyChi-Square Distribution
Cross-Cultural Comparison
Factor Analysis, Statistical
Female
Humans
Male
Phobic Disorders
Psychiatric Status Rating Scales
Surveys and Questionnaires
Young Adult
