Development and Validation of a New Measure of Fear of Negative and Positive Evaluation

There is recent evidence that individuals with social anxiety disorder (SAD) fear both negative and positive evaluation (e.g., Weeks, Heimberg, & Rodebaugh, 2008; Weeks & Howell, 2012). However, the existing literature has limitations and unanswered questions regarding the measurement of fear of positive evaluation (FPE). The purpose of the current study was to develop and validate a measure of social anxiety, FPE, and fear of negative evaluation (FNE) called the Fear of Evaluation Scale (FES) that clearly differentiates between FPE and FNE. The FES demonstrated satisfactory psychometric properties. Additionally, a bifactor model consisting of one general fear of evaluation factor with two specific factors for FNE and FPE provided better fit to the data compared to a two-factor model in which the FNE and FPE items loaded onto two separate factors and a one-factor model in which the FNE and FPE items loaded onto one factor. Further, individuals with high social anxiety reported significantly higher FNE than FPE on the FES, and scored significantly higher than individuals with low social anxiety on the FES. Limitations and implications of these findings, and future research directions are discussed.