Measurement Invariance of Two Different Short Forms of Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (SIAS) and Social Phobia Scale (SPS) in Chinese and US Samples

The goal of this study was to examine the measurement invariance of two different commonly used short forms of the Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (SIAS) and the Social Phobia Scale (SPS) across Chinese and US samples. Participants were 850 (52% females) Chinese and 399 (57% females) US undergraduate students. A two-factor model was identified as the best fitting baseline model for both short-forms of the SIAS and SPS. Full scalar invariance was established for the Peters short form, whereas the Fergus short form only achieved partial scalar invariance. Results of structured means analysis indicated that Chinese participants scored higher than US participants in social anxiety. Some cultural implications for the use of these two sets of short forms are discussed.