Developing the Public Speaking Anxiety Scale (PSAS) for Adolescents: The Mediating Role of Dysfunctional Emotion Regulation in the Effect of Irrational Beliefs on Public Speaking Anxiety

Public speaking anxiety, which is closely related to social anxiety, is a crucial factor in the development of adolescents. It affects their ability to regulate their emotions and irrational beliefs, which in turn shapes their relationships and academic success. The purpose of this present study is two-fold: (a) to develop a valid and reliable measurement tool for public speaking anxiety for adolescents, and (b) to determine the mediating role of dysfunctional emotion regulation on the effect of irrational beliefs on public speaking anxiety. To achieve this, data were collected through face-to-face interviews from a total of 1231 adolescent students, including 642 girls (age, X¯ = 14.96) and 589 boys (X¯ = 14.99), aged between 12 and 17 years old in five stages. Data collection was based on the Public Speaking Anxiety Scale (PSAS) (developed in the current study), the Irrational Beliefs Scale (IBS), the Regulation of Emotions Questionnaire (REQ) and the Social Anxiety Scale for Adolescents (SAS-A). Data were analysed through SPSS, AMOS, JAMOVI, G-POWER and Microsoft Excel programmes. This study concludes that the Public Speaking Anxiety Scale (PSAS) has demonstrated both valid and reliable psychometric properties. The findings of this study further reveal that internal dysfunctional emotion regulation plays a partial mediating role in the effect of irrational beliefs on public speaking anxiety, and that external dysfunctional emotion regulation, on the contrary, did not have a mediating role in the effect of irrational beliefs on public speaking anxiety.