I urval från Stockholms universitets publikationsdatabas

• Latent stability and change in subgroups of social anxiety and depressive symptoms in adolescence

  2022. Natasha R. Magson (et al.). Journal of Anxiety Disorders 87

  Artikel

  Background: Social anxiety and depressive symptoms increase markedly during adolescence. Most research examining the emergence of these symptoms has used a variable-centered approach providing little information about how these symptoms group together in individuals over time. Method: A person-centered approach utilizing latent profile and latent transitional analyses was applied to a large adolescent sample (N = 2742, Mage=13.65; SD=0.63; 47.9% girls). Subgroups differing in their expressions of social anxiety and depressive symptoms at each of four annual time points were identified and then change in membership of these groups was evaluated. Results: Four subgroups were identified: 1. Low Distress, 2. Socially Anxious, 3. Dysphoric, and 4. Comorbid. The low distress group was the largest and most stable, followed by the socially anxious group, who most commonly transitioned into the comorbid group. In contrast, the dysphoric group were most likely to remit and move to the low distress group. The comorbid group was the smallest and least stable, although once in this group, three quarters of adolescents remained in this group over time. Conclusion: Early intervention is particularly imperative for socially anxious adolescents with or without comorbid depressive symptoms as they are the least likely to improve across the adolescent years.

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• A longitudinal study of prevalence and predictors of incidence and persistence of sub-diagnostic social anxiety among Swedish adolescents

  2021. Ewa Mörtberg (et al.). Nordic Psychology

  Artikel

  This longitudinal study aimed to examine the 1-year prevalence, incidence and persistence of sub-diagnostic social anxiety (SSA) as well as general risk factors for the incidence and persistence of SSA during early and mid-adolescence. A Swedish sample of adolescents (N = 2,523) aged 13-14 years at Time 1 and 14-15 years at Time 2 completed measures of anxiety, depressive symptoms, stressors and emotion regulation strategies across the two timepoints. SSA was defined and assessed by the Social Phobia Screening Questionnaire for Children. The prevalence of SSA was 16%, the incidence 12%, and the persistence 53% over time. Symptoms of depression and general anxiety, various stressors and emotion regulation strategies were overall significantly related to SSA. Predictors for the incidence of SSA were lower age, female gender and elevated general anxiety and behavioral avoidance (i.e. being afraid of new activities when there is uncertainty about the outcome). Predictors for persistent SSA were female gender and increased behavioral avoidance. In conclusion, SSA is very common among young individuals, and behavioral avoidance appears particularly important for understanding the development and persistence of SSA in adolescence.

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• Social ångest från teori till behandling

  2021. .

  Bok (red)

  Syftet med den här boken är att ge en bred, sammanhängande och aktuell bild av social ångest. Social ångest innebär för många ett stort lidande och är ett av de vanligaste psykiatriska syndromen. Det är också ett fält inom vilket kunskapsutvecklingen har expanderat kraftigt sedan 1980-talet. Den traditionella bilden av blyga och tillbakadragna personer med social ångest har till exempel utvidgats till att även omfatta de som kan vara impulsiva och utagerande.

  Boken behandlar konceptualisering av social ångest och neurobiologiska och kognitiva faktorer, samt beskriver psykologisk behandling och läkemedelsbehandling av barn, tonåringar och vuxna. Kapitelförfattarna är verksamma forskare och kliniker specialiserade inom området.

  Social ångest från teori till behandling vänder sig till psykologer, psykoterapeuter, lärare, läkare, studenter på grundläggande och avancerad nivå, samt till den intresserade allmänheten.

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• Assessing depressive symptoms with the Borg centiMax Scale® in a Swedish sample of patients and students

  2020. Elisabet Borg, Frida Jonsson, Ewa Mörtberg. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology 61 (2), 325-331

  Artikel

  The Borg centiMax Scale, is a psychophysically composed general intensity ratio scale, which could enable more precise inter‐ and intraindividual comparisons of the intensity of depressive symptoms. In the present study, the properties of the centiMax scale were examined in 38 patients with clinical depression and 109 students. Additionally, preliminary centiMax cut‐off scores for mild, moderate and severe depression were estimated. The psychometric properties of the centiMax were found to be satisfactory regarding internal consistency, convergent, discriminative and predictive validity. Moreover, the centiMax was demonstrated to provide meaningful comparisons of symptom intensity, which makes it possible to evaluate the relative importance of individual symptoms in a profile and make more precise comparisons within and between individuals. With regard to intraindividual comparisons, patients rated , for example, the intensity of feeling “guilt” twice as strong as feelings of “being punished,” and the intensity of “loss of pleasure” almost three times as strong as “being punished.” With regard to interindividual comparisons, patients rated e.g., the intensity of “being punished” as 12 times stronger than controls, and the intensity of “worthlessness” about nine times stronger. In conclusion, the centiMax was shown to be reliable and valid for assessing depressive symptoms. The centiMax with level anchored ratio data, appears to be highly advantageous as it permits rather precise values of symptom intensity for intra‐ and interindividual comparisons that could be useful in the diagnostic process and in treatment planning.

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• Measuring associations between social anxiety and use of different types of social media using the Swedish Social Anxiety Scale for Social Media Users

  2020. Olivia J. Erliksson, Philip Lindner, Ewa Mörtberg. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology 61 (6), 819-826

  Artikel

  Research on the association between social anxiety and social media usage remains inconclusive: despite the preference for computer-mediated communication there is currently no clear empirical support for social anxiety being associated with longer duration of social media use. Self-report measures for social anxiety that are adapted for the context of social media could facilitate further research. The current study aimed to develop a Swedish version of the recently developed Social Anxiety Scale for Social Media Users (SAS-SMU), evaluate its psychometric properties, and explore associations between different uses of social media and social anxiety. Three factors were retained for SAS-SMU with excellent internal consistency. SAS-SMU evidenced convergent validity with measures of social anxiety, negative convergent validity with satisfaction with life, and divergent validity with measures of obsessive-compulsive disorder, depression and generalized anxiety disorder. Results indicated that higher levels of social anxiety were associated with passive and active use as well as longer duration of social media use in general, which is at odds with a previous study where passive use remained the only significant predictor for social anxiety.

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• Social Anxiety-Impulsivity Subgroups and Links to Later Emotional Adjustment in Adolescence

  2020. Nejra Van Zalk, Maria Tillfors, Ewa Mörtberg. Journal of Early Adolescence 40 (9), 1397-1426

  Artikel

  A growing body of research has acknowledged the heterogeneity of subclinical social anxiety, identifying a subgroup of individuals who exhibit high levels of impulsivity. In a sample of Swedish early adolescents (N = 2,509, M-age = 13.64; 52.8% girls), we conducted latent transition analyses (LTA) to identify four classes of subclinical social anxiety-impulsivity across three time points. We identified a Low Social Anxiety-Low Impulsivity class, as well as a High Anxiety-High Impulsivity class for girls and boys, which had high levels of Time-4 internalizing problems. The latter class was less stable but larger for boys. There was also a more typical High Anxiety-Low Impulsivity class for both genders. Nevertheless, Low Anxiety-High Impulsivity girls and boys fared the worst in terms of both internalizing and externalizing problems later on. To our knowledge, this is the first study to adopt an LTA framework to investigate trajectories of early adolescent social anxiety-impulsivity over time.

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• A pilot study comparing The Borg CR Scale®(centiMax®) and the Beck Depression Inventory for scaling depressive symptoms

  2019. Elisabet Borg (et al.). Nordic Psychology 71 (3), 164-176

  Artikel

  The Borg centiMax scale is a psychophysically constructed general intensity scale with verbal anchors placed in congruence with the numerical scale (0–100); thus, ratio data are obtained. With ratio data, quantitative relationships among perceptions and feelings can be determined in a statistically more solid way. The purpose of this pilot study was to explore the utility of using the Borg CR Scale® (centiMax®, CR100) for measuring depressive symptoms in a pilot study of 50 students, who completed the centiMax along with the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). Convergent validity and reliability were examined by correlation analyses (Pearson, Spearman, and Split-half with Spearman–Brown correction), and group and individual symptom profiles were constructed to illustrate the possible advantage of level anchored ratio data. The strong correlation 0.75 (p < .001) between the instruments supports an acceptable convergent validity of the centiMax and indicates a common underlying construct. Additionally, the reliability was high (cM = 0.96; BDI = 0.90). With symptom profiles, it was demonstrated that level anchored ratio data can show both how intense (level) and how many times more intense (relation) the feelings of separate symptoms are. In conclusion, the centiMax appears to be a valid and reliable instrument; however, further studies in larger samples including clinically depressed participants are needed for evaluating its diagnostic importance.

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• Psychometric Evaluation of the Social Phobia Inventory and the Mini-Social Phobia Inventory in a Swedish University Student Sample

  2019. Ewa Mörtberg, Markus Jansson Fröjmark. Psychological Reports 122 (1), 323-339

  Artikel

  Social anxiety is common in the general population, as well as among students in higher education. For screening of social anxiety, there is a need for brief scales. In the present study, the psychometric properties were examined in a Swedish version of the Social Phobia Inventory (SPIN) and the Mini-Social Phobia Inventory (Mini-SPIN) in a university student sample (n = 161). In addition to the SPIN and Mini-SPIN, participants completed measures of fear of public speaking, general anxiety, depression, and quality of life. Exploratory factor analyses were used to investigate the underlying dimensions of the SPIN, and reliability, convergent, and divergent validity of SPIN and Mini-SPIN were examined by Cronbach’s alpha and correlation analyses. It was found that a shorter eight-item version of the SPIN was associated with two solid factors (fear and avoidance of social interaction and fear and avoidance of criticism), and acceptable internal consistency, convergent, and divergent validity. In addition, the Mini-SPIN was associated with satisfactory convergent validity, but the reliability was not acceptable. It is concluded that the SPIN-8 is a viable screening tool for social anxiety in a university student population.

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• Improving the psychological assessment of patients by using psychophysical methods

  2018. Adsson Magalhães (et al.). Fechner Day 2018, 45-49

  Konferens

  For many years, psychologists have developed instruments for assessing disorders based on ordinal scales. These scales, despite being widely used, easy to apply, and producing good results, have some imperfections. By bringing the knowledge acquired by the psychophysics field during the last century, it is possible to improve psychological assessment creating new instruments based in psychophysical methods of measurement like ratio scaling.

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• Psychometric Properties of the Personal Report of Public Speaking Anxiety (PRPSA) in a Sample of University Students in Sweden

  2018. Ewa Mörtberg (et al.). International Journal of Cognitive Therapy 11 (4), 421-433

  Artikel

  Existing measures for examining fear of public speaking are somewhat limited in content and there is a need for scales that assess a broader area including cognitive, behavioral, and physiological dimensions of the fear. This study examined the psychometric properties of the Personal Report of Public Speaking Anxiety (PRPSA) in a sample of university students (n, 273). Participants completed the PRPSA and measures of depression, social and general anxiety, and quality of life. A reduced version of the PRPSA, the PRPSA-18, was found to demonstrate satisfactory internal consistency as well as discriminant and convergent validity. The PRPSA-18 was associated with two solid factors, “Anticipatory anxiety and physiological symptoms during speech performance,” and “Lack of control during speech performance.” A PRPSA-18 score of 58 was found to discriminate participants with higher and lower fear of public speaking. It is concluded that the shorter and more easily administered PRPSA-18 is a credible option for assessing fear of public speaking among university students.

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• Factor solutions of the Social Phobia Scale (SPS) and the Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (SIAS) in a Swedish population

  2017. Ewa Mörtberg (et al.). Cognitive Behaviour Therapy 46 (4), 300-314

  Artikel

  Culturally validated rating scales for social anxiety disorder (SAD) are of significant importance when screening for the disorder, as well as for evaluating treatment efficacy. This study examined construct validity and additional psychometric properties of two commonly used scales, the Social Phobia Scale and the Social Interaction Anxiety Scale, in a clinical SAD population (n = 180) and in a normal population (n = 614) in Sweden. Confirmatory factor analyses of previously reported factor solutions were tested but did not reveal acceptable fit. Exploratory factor analyses (EFA) of the joint structure of the scales in the total population yielded a two-factor model (performance anxiety and social interaction anxiety), whereas EFA in the clinical sample revealed a three-factor solution, a social interaction anxiety factor and two performance anxiety factors. The SPS and SIAS showed good to excellent internal consistency, and discriminated well between patients with SAD and a normal population sample. Both scales showed good convergent validity with an established measure of SAD, whereas the discriminant validity of symptoms of social anxiety and depression could not be confirmed. The optimal cut-off score for SPS and SIAS were 18 and 22 points, respectively. It is concluded that the factor structure and the additional psychometric properties of SPS and SIAS support the use of the scales for assessment in a Swedish population.

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