Abstract
The purpose of the present study was to develop a short version of the self-rating Social Skills Scale (SSS) by Koyama et al. (2002, in Japanese) for socially anxious individuals. The reliability and validity of the newly developed version was tested. The SSS-social anxiety scale had a single-factor structure and demonstrated high internal consistency (α=.89). Total scores were significantly negatively correlated with multiple measures of social anxiety, specifically with scales measuring avoidance behavior and fear of social interaction. Response to treatment was evaluated through changes in the scores of patients with social anxiety disorder who received group cognitive-behavioral treatment. The results showed an effect size of .45 at post-treatment, and .44 at a 6-month follow-up, indicating moderate treatment sensitivity of the present scale. Implications for future research were discussed.
