Early detection of social anxiety: Reliability and validity of a teacher questionnaire for the identification of social anxiety in young children

Socially anxious children have been described in the literature as at risk of developing increasing emotional problems and of being deprived of valid teaming experiences with peers. In order to enable teachers to detect socia l anxiety in preschoolers the authors developed a scale. The TRSA-"junior" (Teacher Rating Scale of Social Anxiety-"junior") is a brief Likert-type qu estionnaire for the identification of social anxiety in 5-to 6-year-old chi ldren. Reliability (internal consistency plus test-retest correlation) coll ected in 2 samples was high. Convergent and divergent validity of this newl y developed rating-scale were also studied. A high level of social anxiety correlated with a low level of social participation, as observed on the pla yground. The TRSA-'Junior" score correlated with "internalizing" as measure d by the Behavior Questionnaire for Toddlers and Preschoolers (BQTP) and th e Child Behavior Check List (CBCL), and with the subscales "anxious-depress ed", "thought problems", "social problems" and "withdrawn behavior" of the CBCL. In the second study a high score on social anxiety appeared to be rel ated to less positive sociometric judgments by peers. The authors conclude that the TRSA-"junior" may aid in the identification and prevention of soci al anxiety at an early age. In addition, the scale would appear to be a use ful instrument in research, given its sound psychometric qualities.