Psychometric properties of the Persian version of social anxiety questionnaire for adults (SAQ-A30)

Background The Social Anxiety Questionnaire for Adults (SAQ-A30) is a newly developed instrument for measuring social anxiety. This study aimed to examine the psychometric properties of the SAQ-A30 in Iran. Methods The English version of the SAQ-A30 was translated into Persian using forward-backward procedure. The questionnaire was administered to a sample of university students. In addition they completed two other standard questionnaires namely the Brief Fear of Negative Evaluation-Straightforward version(BFNE-S) and the Social Phobia Inventory (SPIN). Validity was assessed using discriminant analysis, and explanatory factor analysis. In addition the correlation between SAQ-A30, the BFNE-S, and the SPIN was assessed to examine convergent validity. Finally the Cronbach's alpha coefficient was used to examine internal consistency. Results In all 299 students took part in the study. The mean age of participants was 23.6 (SD = 4.2) years. The analysis showed that the SAQ-A30 discriminated well between men and women where women significantly scored higher than male respondents as expected (P = 0.003). The exploratory factor analysis revealed a five-factor structure for the questionnaire that jointly explained 53.3% of variance observed. The results from convergent validity showed significant correlation between the SAQ-A30, the SPIN (r = 0.66,P < 0.001), and the BFNE-S (r = 0.5,P < 0.01). The internal consistency (to assess reliability) was satisfactory (Cronbach(')s alpha coefficient = 0.92). Conclusion The preliminary findings from this study indicated that the Persian version of SAQ-A30 is a valid instrument for measuring social anxiety in Iran. However, further psychometric evaluation of the questionnaire is recommended.