A New Lens on Social Anxiety: Development and Validation of the Scopophobia Scale for Adults

The present study aimed to develop and validate the Scopophobia Scale (SS) for adults. A mixed-method approach was employed across three phases to explore the phenomenon of scopophobia. In the first phase, semi-structured interviews were conducted with individuals from various faculties of public and private universities in Faisalabad to gather qualitative insights. In the second phase, the factor structure of the newly developed scale was examined through Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA). A sample of 370 adults (n = 185 men; n = 185 women), aged 18–35 years, was selected using a convenient sampling technique, maintaining a 10:1 participant-to-item ratio (Osborne & Costello, 2004). Principal Axis Factoring (PAF) with Promax rotation was applied to extract underlying factors. After the removal of non-loading items, 37 items were retained. Four factors were identified and labeled as: (1) Social Anxiety and Poor Self-Image, (2) Self-Devaluation, (3) Fear of Social Interaction and Criticism, and (4) Fear of Negative Evaluation. The final scale demonstrated excellent internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = .97), with a cumulative variance of 68%. Eigenvalues greater than 1 were considered for factor retention. In the third phase, the psychometric properties of the Scopophobia Scale were assessed. Convergent validity was established through a significant positive correlation with the Urdu version of the Social Appearance Anxiety Scale (r = .68**), while discriminant validity was supported by a non-significant negative correlation with the Urdu version of the Tromsø Social Intelligence Scale. Overall, the results indicate that the indigenous Scopophobia Scale (SS) is a psychometrically robust tool suitable for use in clinical and counseling settings to screen for scopophobia.