EuropeanReviewofApp/iedPsychology,:zutrimester2000,vol.50,n°2,pp.249-258 SocialAnxietyinSloveneAdolescents:PsychometricPropertiesofaNew Measure,AgeDifferencesandRelationswithSelf-Consciousness

The study examined ageand sex differences in social anxiety in different periods of adolescence and the relations between adolescents ' social anxiety, self-consciousness and perception of self-incompetence. A new measure for assessingsocial anxi-ety in adolescence was constructed for this purpose. 325 subjects participated in the study: early (age 12), middle (age 16) and late (age 20) adolescents answered 36 test iterns of the newly developed Social Anxiety Scale for Adolescents (SASA) and were administered measures of self-consciousness (lmaginary Audience Scale, Self-Consciousness Scale) and perceived in-competence (Perceived lncompetence Scale, Perceived Sociallncompetence Scale). Factor analysis yielded two social anxiety factors: Apprehension and Fear ofNegative Evaluation decreasedwith adolescents ' age and was more present in females than males, while Tension and Inhibition in Social Contacts did not differentiate either between the three age groups or between sexes. The two forms of social anxiety correlatedmoderately to highly with self-consciousness and perceived global and social incompetence. REsUME on a examine les differences d'anxietesociale liees II I'ageet au sexeau cours de I'adolescence,et les rapports de cettean-xiete avec la focalisation sur soi et la perception de soi comme etant incompetent. Une nouvelle mesure de I'anxiete sociale II I'adolescence a ete construite. Les 325 adolescents participant II l'ttude appartenaient II trois groupes d'age: la prime, l