Abstract
There is recent evidence that individuals with social anxiety disorder (SAD) fear both negative and positive evaluation (e.g., Weeks, Heimberg, & Rodebaugh, 2008; Weeks & Howell, 2012). However, the existing literature has limitations and unanswered questions regarding the measurement of fear of positive evaluation (FPE). The purpose of the current study was to develop and validate a measure of social anxiety, FPE, and fear of negative evaluation (FNE) called the Fear of Evaluation Scale (FES) that clearly differentiates between FPE and FNE. The FES demonstrated satisfactory psychometric properties. Additionally, a bifactor model consisting of one general fear of evaluation factor with two specific factors for FNE and FPE provided better fit to the data compared to a two-factor model in which the FNE and FPE items loaded onto two separate factors and a one-factor model in which the FNE and FPE items loaded onto one factor. Further, individuals with high social anxiety reported significantly higher FNE than FPE on the FES, and scored significantly higher than individuals with low social anxiety on the FES. Limitations and implications of these findings, and future research directions are discussed.
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Data Availability
The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
Notes
Individuals from student and community populations were recruited at the same time. It was expected that approximately half of the final sample would be recruited from the student population and the other half would be recruited from the community. However, the majority of participants ended up being recruited from the student population.
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This research was part of the first author’s doctoral dissertation, which was supported by the Ontario Graduate Scholarship Program, a Queen Elizabeth II Graduate Scholarship in Science and Technology, and Toronto Metropolitan University.
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Gillian A. Wilson, Stephanie E. Cassin and Martin M. Antony declare that they have no conflict of interest.
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Wilson, G.A., Cassin, S.E. & Antony, M.M. Development and Validation of a New Measure of Fear of Negative and Positive Evaluation. J Psychopathol Behav Assess 45, 1127–1140 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-023-10041-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-023-10041-z