Measurement invariance of the Straightforwardly-Worded Social Interaction Anxiety Scale and Associations with life satisfaction among emerging adults attending University in 10 countries

The aim of the present study was to assess the measurement invariance of the long version of the straightforwardly-worded Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (S-SIAS) across 10 countries and explore links with life satisfaction in a large sample of emerging adults attending university. Participants were N = 4284 university students (Mage = 19.89 years, SD = 1.83; 65 % females) from 10 countries (i.e., Argentina, Australia, Canada, China, India, Italy, South Korea, Norway, Turkey, and the United States), who completed self-report assessments of social anxiety and life satisfaction. Findings from a multiple-group factor analysis alignment method indicated approximate measurement invariance for the S-SIAS across the 10 country sites. University students from Norway reported the highest mean level of social anxiety of all groups, whereas participants from Argentina reported the lowest social anxiety. Results from multigroup regression analysis indicated that social anxiety was negatively associated with life satisfaction in all samples (except for Argentina and Australia, where the life satisfaction measure was not collected), but the strength of the association was stronger in Norway compared to samples from other countries. Results are discussed in terms of the meaning and implication of social anxiety across cultures.