Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, Vol. 21, No. 1, 1999
The Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory:
Reliability and Validity in an Adolescent
Spanish Population
J. Olivares,
1,4
L. J. Garcia-Lopez,
1
M. D. Hidalgo,
2
S. M. Turner,
3
and
D. C. Beidel
Accepted: November 30, 1998
The objective of this study is to examine the factor structure and psychometric
properties of the SPAI in a sample of adolescent Spaniards. The results
obtained support the use of the correlated two-factor SPAI subscales and
indicate high coefficient alpha values for the SPAI subscales. The results
provide support for the use of the SPAI in an adolescent population in a
non-English-speaking country. Both exploratory and confirmatory factor
analyses of the Social Phobia subscale showed a four-factor structure, instead
of a five-factor dimension, as suggested by previous studies. Effects for gender
and age and gender interaction were found. Limitations and suggestions for
future research are discussed.
INTRODUCTION
Social phobia is one of the three most common mental disorders in
normal populations (Davidson, Hughes, George, & Blazer, 1993). Several
'Department of Personality, Assessment and Psychological Treatments, Faculty of Psychology,
University of Murcia, P.O. Box 4021, 30080 Murcia, Spain.
Department of Basic Psychology and Methodology, Faculty of Psychology, University of
Murcia, P.O. Box 4021, 30080 Murcia, Spain.
3
Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742.
To whom correspondence should be addressed at Departamento de Personalidad, Evaluacion
y Tratamiento Psicologicos, Facultad de Psicologia, Universidad de Murcia, P.O. Box 4021,
30080 Murcia, Spain. e-mail: jorelx@fcu.um.es.
67
0882-2689/99/0300-0067$16.00/0 © 1999 Plenum Publishing Corporation
KEY WORDS: assessment; factor structure; reliability; social phobia; validity.