Awareness and Acceptance in Anxiety‐Provoking Social Situations and Social Anxiety: Development and Initial Validation of the Social Anxiety‐Awareness and Acceptance Scale

Abstract

AbstractSocial anxiety disorder (SAD) is marked by intense anxiety in social situations and negative cognitions. We developed the Social Anxiety‐Awareness and Acceptance Scale (SA‐AAS) to measure awareness and acceptance in anxiety‐provoking social situations and examined the relationship between awareness, acceptance, and SAD symptoms. Patients (N = 412) with SAD completed the SA‐AAS and a set of questionnaires that evaluated trait mindfulness, self‐focused attention, cost/probability bias, avoidance behavior, and social anxiety. An exploratory factor analysis revealed that the SA‐AAS has two factors: “awareness” and “acceptance.” Correlation analyses revealed that each factor had a significantly weak‐to‐moderate correlation with the total score for trait mindfulness and the observing, non‐reactivity, and describing factors. Partial correlation analyses demonstrated no significant correlations between awareness and cost/probability bias, avoidance behavior, and social anxiety. In contrast, there were significant negative correlations between acceptance and self‐focused attention, cost/probability bias, avoidance behavior, and social anxiety. A one‐way analysis of variance indicated that the low awareness and acceptance cluster, and the high awareness and low acceptance cluster had higher SAD symptom scores concerning cost/probability bias and social anxiety than the moderate and high awareness and acceptance clusters. The SA‐AAS has high reliability and validity, and acceptance of mindfulness was negatively related to SAD symptoms.