Child and Adolescent Social Behaviour Questionnaire (CASBQ)

Overview

The Child and Adolescent Social Behaviour Questionnaire (CASBQ) is a self-report measure of safety behaviours used by young people when they feel anxious in or before social situations. Safety behaviours are actions intended to prevent feared social outcomes but which may inadvertently maintain social anxiety. The questionnaire assesses a range of behaviours including avoidance and attempts to manage the impression made on other people. It can be used to assess psychological processes associated with social anxiety and to monitor mechanisms targeted during cognitive therapy for Social Anxiety Disorder. Research in adolescents supports two broad types of safety behaviour: 1. Avoidance behaviours – attempts to conceal anxiety, minimise attention or reduce social engagement, such as avoiding eye contact, talking less, staying at the edge of groups or avoiding talking about oneself. 2. Impression-management behaviours – attempts to control how the young person appears to others, such as rehearsing sentences, checking what to say, trying to fit in or making an effort to come across well.

Scoring & Interpretation

The CASBQ assesses the frequency with which young people use safety behaviours when they feel anxious in or before social situations. Items are rated on a four-point scale: 0 = Never / Not at all; 1 = Sometimes; 2 = Often; 3 = Always / Very frequent. A mean score across items is calculated, giving an overall score ranging from 0–3, with higher scores indicating more frequent use of safety behaviours. Evans et al. (2021) evaluated a 28-item version and calculated an overall mean score from 0 (no safety behaviours) to 3 (very frequent safety behaviours).

Psychometric Properties

Internal Consistency

Evans et al. (2021) found good internal consistency for the overall 28-item questionnaire: Community sample: Cronbach's α = .91; McDonald's ω = .90 Clinical SAD sample: Cronbach's α = .85; McDonald's ω = .85 For the two-factor solution in the community sample: Avoidance: α = .87; ω = .87; Impression Management: α = .79; ω = .81 In the clinical SAD sample: Avoidance: α = .80; ω = .80; Impression Management: α = .82; ω = .81 These findings indicate good internal consistency for the overall questionnaire and its two principal dimensions.

Test-Retest Reliability

Not reported.

Factor Structure

Evans et al. (2021) investigated factor structure in large community samples and a clinical sample of adolescents with Social Anxiety Disorder. Exploratory factor analysis was conducted on one randomly selected half of the community sample (N = 409). A two-factor solution provided the clearest interpretable structure: Avoidance, Impression Management. Confirmatory factor analysis in the second half of the community sample (N = 383) was underpowered and some fit indices were outside recommended thresholds. Further factor-analytic validation in larger clinical samples is needed.

Validity

Evans et al. (2021) provide evidence of convergent/construct validity. In the community sample, both Avoidance and Impression-Management safety behaviours were significantly positively associated with social anxiety symptoms and social anxiety-related cognitions.

The clinical group reported substantially greater overall safety behaviour use than the community groups, providing additional evidence of clinical relevance.
Avoidance behaviours were also associated with poorer peer outcomes, including greater peer victimisation and poorer friendship quality.

Measurement Invariance

Not reported.

Access

The CASBQ is associated with the Oxford Centre for Anxiety Disorders and Trauma (OxCADAT) adolescent social anxiety resources.

The measure is available through OxCADAT Resources. Users should consult the current OxCADAT conditions of use and copyright information before reproducing or redistributing the questionnaire.

https://oxcadatresources.com/