Factor Structure of the Social Appearance Anxiety Scale in Turkish Early Adolescents

Abstract

Although the Social Appearance Anxiety Scale (SAAS) is most often validated with the use of confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) on undergraduate students, exploratory factor analysis and multiple factor retention decision criteria necessitate the analysis of underlying factor structure to prevent over and under factoring as well as to reveal convergence and divergence in different factor analysis methods. This study examines the factor structure of SAAS using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) with multiple factor retention decision criteria, and CFA in a large sample of adolescents in Turkey via secondary data analysis. The number of participants was 2,098 (1,072 female and 1,026 male; M = 12.77 years; SD=1.69) students attending 22 junior high schools. Results suggest that the Social Appearance Anxiety Scale is a valid and reliable measure with a unidimesional structure for Turkish early adolescents.