Development and Validation of the Social Anxiety Scale for Social Media Users

• In Event: Investigations of Individual Characteristics to Support Academic Success

Abstract

Although various scales have been developed for measuring students’ social anxiety, none of the literature has addressed the measurement of social anxiety for social media users. This study describes the process of developing and validating a multidimensional Social Anxiety Scale for Social Media Users (SAS-SMU) that can be used to assess college students’ social anxiety arising from social media platforms. In the pilot study, data were collected from 174 college students to provide evidence for validity and reliability of the structure. A 4-factor structure emerged with the dimensions of shared content anxiety, privacy concern anxiety, interaction anxiety, and self-evaluation anxiety. In the main study, data were collected from 510 college students to confirm 4-factor structure of 21-item SAS-SMU.

Authors

• Yunus Alkış, Middle East Technical University

• Zafer Kadırhan, Middle East Technical University

• Mustafa Sat, Middle East Technical University