Social anxiety can emerge during pre-adolescence, causing children to worry and avoid situations where they may be evaluated by others. Previous studies have shown that around 4% of preteens exhibit clinically elevated levels of social anxiety, which is associated with the onset of other problems later on. Therefore, it is necessary to have screening measures with a limited number of items that assess various social situations that trigger anxiety, such as the Social Worries Questionnaire (SWQ).
The objective of this study was to adapt and evaluate the psychometric properties of the SWQ in Spanish preadolescent children.
The sample consisted of 218 children aged 8 to 12 years old (54.1% boys). The SWQ, along with other measures of depression, anxiety, and self-concept, was administered online to the children.
The results indicate that the Spanish adaptation of the SWQ demonstrates good psychometric properties and allows for the assessment of the generalization of social anxiety across various situations. Therefore, the questionnaire can be a valuable self-reported tool for detecting at-risk cases and guiding treatment in clinical settings.
Online publication here.