Resumen de Psychometric properties of the French version of the Social Anxiety Questionnaire for Adults

Marcelo-Archibaldo Bravo, Tania Lecomte, Marc Corbière, Alexandre Heeren

• The Social Anxiety Questionnaire for Adults (SAQ) is a new social anxiety measure that attracts attention for its empirical development, validation with large samples and in multicultural contexts. The SAQ has shown adequate psychometric properties among clinical and non-clinical samples, from 20 different countries, including Spain, Portugal and most Latin American countries. To date however, this questionnaire has not been translated or validated in French. The aim of this study is to present the French version of the SAQ and analyze its psychometric properties in French Canadian and Belgian samples. The original version of the SAQ was translated into French. A total of 482 Canadian and Belgian non-clinical participants were recruited for this study. All participants were administered the French versions of the SAQ and the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (LSAS-SR). Confirmatory factor analyses indicated an adequate fit of the five-factor model. The internal consistency was excellent for the total score and very good for all dimensions, and the test-retest reliability was good for both the total score and all dimensions (over a 6-week period). An adequate convergent validity of the SAQ with the LSAS-SR was found. Differences between countries and gender in the SAQ were also examined, and small to medium effect sizes were noted in some scores. The French version of the SAQ demonstrated adequate reliability and validity in the evaluated samples.