Social Anxiety Scale for Adolescents (SAS-A) Short Form: Longitudinal Measurement Invariance in Two Community Samples of Youth

Abstract

In this study, we examined the longitudinal measurement invariance of a 12-item short version of the Social Anxiety Scale for Adolescents (SAS-A) in two 4-year longitudinal community samples ( N_{sample 1} = 815, M_age T₁ = 13.38 years; N_{sample 2} = 551, M_age T₁ = 14.82 years). Using confirmatory factor analyses, we found strict longitudinal measurement invariance for the three-factor structure of the SAS-A across adolescence, across samples, and across gender. Some developmental changes in social anxiety were found from early to mid-adolescence, as well as gender differences across adolescence. These findings suggest that the short version of the SAS-A is a developmentally appropriate instrument that can be used effectively to examine adolescent social anxiety development.

Keywords: Social Anxiety Scale for Adolescents (SAS-A); adolescence; developmental trends; gender differences; longitudinal measurement invariance; social anxiety symptoms.