Reliability and Validity of a Brief Self-Report Questionnaire for the Diagnosis of Social Phobia

This investigation evaluated the reliability and validity of a brief self report questionnaire for the social phobia diagnosis (BSQ-SP), based upon the diagnostic criteria of the American Psychiatric Association (2002), with an intentional sample of 532 students of four private and one public universities of Bogota (Colombia), aged 15 to 42 (average of 21.1 years) and coming from every socioeconomic strata. The reliability of the instrument was evaluated through of test-retest technique, with regards to content and construct validity. The statistical analysis of reliability carried out with 250 comparisons (Spearman) shows a highly significant positive correlation among the test-retest scores, while the analyses of the construct validity (Squared Chi, Tau-b of Kendall and Spearman) showed highly significant positive correlations between the diagnosis of social phobia and the scores considered high in the three mentioned instruments.