Abstract

Safety behaviors are forms of avoidance in social anxiety disorder (SAD) and function to reduce pain and conceal anxiety symptoms in social situations perceived as fearful. The use of safety behaviors perpetuates SAD and diminishes the effectiveness of the treatment. The purpose of this study was to validate the Korean version of the Social Behavior Questionnaire (KSBQ), which measures the safety behaviors of individuals with SAD. A total of 742 online panels were recruited based on the Korean 2020 resident registration demographics. We conducted exploratory factor analysis (EFA) on half of the randomly selected data and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) with the remaining half. According to the EFA results, the K-SBQ had a 28-item three-factor (impression management, avoidance behavior, and anxiety-symptoms control) structure. These results differed from the original scale, which had a two-factor structure (avoidance and impression management). As a result of CFA, the three-factor model showed a suitable model fit. The reliability and convergent validity of the K-SBQ were good, and the discriminant validity was adequate. Further, the ROC curve analysis indicated that 34 points appeared appropriate for the K-SBQ cut-off scores. The study results suggested that the K-SBQ could identify and measure the safety behaviors of individuals with SAD in clinical and research settings.