TY - JOUR
T1 - Measurement invariance of the Straightforwardly-Worded Social Interaction Anxiety Scale and Associations with life satisfaction among emerging adults attending University in 10 countries
AU - Sette, Stefania
AU - Coplan, Robert J.
AU - Ooi, Laura L.
AU - Zuffianò, Antonio
AU - Xiao, Bowen
AU - Wong, Quincy J.J.
AU - Rapee, Ronald M.
AU - Oh, Wonjung
AU - Liu, Junsheng
AU - Kim, Yunhee
AU - Kim, Hyoun K.
AU - Kamble, Shanmukh
AU - Greco, Carolina
AU - Dogan, Aysun
AU - Castillo, Karen Noel
AU - Braathu, Nora
AU - Bølstad, Evalill
AU - Bayram-Ozdemir, Sevgi
AU - Bowker, Julie C.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2025 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
PY - 2025/12
Y1 - 2025/12
N2 - The aim of the present study was to assess the measurement invariance of the long version of the straightforwardly-worded Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (S-SIAS) across 10 countries and explore links with life satisfaction in a large sample of emerging adults attending university. Participants were N = 4284 university students (Mage= 19.89 years, SD = 1.83; 65 % females) from 10 countries (i.e., Argentina, Australia, Canada, China, India, Italy, South Korea, Norway, Turkey, and the United States), who completed self-report assessments of social anxiety and life satisfaction. Findings from a multiple-group factor analysis alignment method indicated approximate measurement invariance for the S-SIAS across the 10 country sites. University students from Norway reported the highest mean level of social anxiety of all groups, whereas participants from Argentina reported the lowest social anxiety. Results from multigroup regression analysis indicated that social anxiety was negatively associated with life satisfaction in all samples (except for Argentina and Australia, where the life satisfaction measure was not collected), but the strength of the association was stronger in Norway compared to samples from other countries. Results are discussed in terms of the meaning and implication of social anxiety across cultures.
AB - The aim of the present study was to assess the measurement invariance of the long version of the straightforwardly-worded Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (S-SIAS) across 10 countries and explore links with life satisfaction in a large sample of emerging adults attending university. Participants were N = 4284 university students (Mage= 19.89 years, SD = 1.83; 65 % females) from 10 countries (i.e., Argentina, Australia, Canada, China, India, Italy, South Korea, Norway, Turkey, and the United States), who completed self-report assessments of social anxiety and life satisfaction. Findings from a multiple-group factor analysis alignment method indicated approximate measurement invariance for the S-SIAS across the 10 country sites. University students from Norway reported the highest mean level of social anxiety of all groups, whereas participants from Argentina reported the lowest social anxiety. Results from multigroup regression analysis indicated that social anxiety was negatively associated with life satisfaction in all samples (except for Argentina and Australia, where the life satisfaction measure was not collected), but the strength of the association was stronger in Norway compared to samples from other countries. Results are discussed in terms of the meaning and implication of social anxiety across cultures.
KW - Cross-cultural study
KW - Life satisfaction
KW - Multiple-group factor analysis alignment
KW - S-SIAS
KW - University students
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105023204458
U2 - 10.1016/j.janxdis.2025.103092
DO - 10.1016/j.janxdis.2025.103092
M3 - Article
C2 - 41252886
AN - SCOPUS:105023204458
SN - 0887-6185
VL - 116
JO - Journal of Anxiety Disorders
JF - Journal of Anxiety Disorders
M1 - 103092
ER -