Assessment of Social Anxiety and its Clinical Expressions

Abstract

Social anxiety is a nearly universal human phenomenon, and can range from normal concerns over social evaluation to debilitating distress and associated disruption in social, academic, and vocational functioning. Careful assessment of social anxiety is critical, especially in clinical contexts. We review various tools used to assess social anxiety, including clinical interviews, interviewer-rated scales, self-report questionnaires, self-monitoring techniques, thought-listing procedures, and psychophysiological assessments for adults, adolescents, and children. We likewise review measures of theoretically-derived factors associated with social anxiety.