Italian validation of the social anxiety scale for social media users (SAS-SMU) in a non-clinical sample

Prior research has suggested that the use of social media could be associated with psychopathology (e.g., depression and anxiety symptoms). To measure social anxiety associated with social media use, Alkis et al. (2017) developed the Social Anxiety Scale for Social Media Users (SAS-SMU). The aims of the present study were to investigate the factor structure of the SAS-SMU in a nonclinical sample of Italian adults and to analyze its psychometric properties. Three hundred and eighty participants (222 women and 158 men) were administered Italian versions of the SAS-SMU, the Social Phobia Inventory, the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale, the Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory Revised, the General Anxiety Disorder-7, the Patient Health Questionnaire-9, and the Satisfaction with Life Scale. The original hierarchical model, with four first-order factors and one second order factor had good fit to the data (χ2 185=405.81, RMSEA=0.06, 95%CI 0.05–0.06, CFI=0.99, TLI=0.98, SRMR=0.04). SAS-SMU had satisfactory internal consistency (ordinal α=0.94) as well as good convergent and divergent validity. Finally, different SAS-SMU scores were associated with different level of social anxiety. The SAS-SMU is, therefore, a reliable and valid measure of social anxiety in relation to social media use.