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 psycho- pathology (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 (χ2185=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.