Abstract
Negative cognitions play a central role in adolescent social anxiety, and yet there is a lack of empirically validated measures assessing these in detail. This study describes the adaptation of the Child & Adolescent Social Cognitions Questionnaire (CASCQ) from the adult version of the scale and its preliminary validation in a general adolescent school sample (N = 671). Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis on split halves of the data indicated two factors, labelled ‘negative self-concept’ and ‘anxious appearance’, provided the best fit. Totals and subscales possessed good internal consistency and convergent validity. Findings suggest that the CASCQ is a reliable and valid measure of social anxiety-related cognitions in youth and may be useful for research and clinical purposes. Further examination of the scale with pre-adolescents and clinical samples is warranted.
Highlights
The question of why some individuals continue to feel anxiety in social and performance situations, even in the absence of negative feedback, is critical for understanding the maintenance of social anxiety disorder (SAD) and for efforts to effectively intervene
All 22 items from the adult Social Cognitions Questionnaire [5] were included in the youth version, with wording adapted to be suitable for children and adolescents
To test the goodness of fit of the models in the Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), we examined the Standardized Root Mean Square Residual (SRMR), the Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA), the Comparative Fit Index (CFI) and the Tucker Lewis Index (TLI)
Summary
The question of why some individuals continue to feel anxiety in social and performance situations, even in the absence of negative feedback, is critical for understanding the maintenance of social anxiety disorder (SAD) and for efforts to effectively intervene. Cognitive behavioural models suggest that negative thoughts about oneself and others’ reactions in social situations, such as “people will see that I am nervous”, “I will blush”, and “I am boring”, play a central role in the disorder [1,2,3,4]. Various scales for assessing such thoughts have been developed, including the Social Cognitions Questionnaire (SCQ) [5]. The SCQ was developed in order to quantify social anxiety-related cognitions [6]. It is comprised of 22 items, each reflecting a common social anxiety-related cognition Items are rated on two dimensions: how frequently the thought occurs in social situations, and how strongly the thought is believed
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