Psychometric properties of the Brief version of the Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale (BFNE) in a clinical sample

Abstract

The Brief version of the Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale (BFNE) was built by Leary (1983a) from the Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale (FNE) (Watson y Friend, 1969). The BFNE consists of 12 items scored on a five-point Likert scale and it assesses the degree to which people fear being evaluated negatively by others. This scale was applied to a sample of 122 participants with a diagnosis of social phobia (DSM-IV, 2000). In this sample the BFNE exhibited a 2-factor structure and the nature of the factors was similar to the factors reported by Rodebaugh et al. (2004) and Weeks et al. (2005). The BFNE showed a high internal consistency for both subescales. With regard to concurrent validity the scale obtained a significant correlation with social phobia, trait anxiety and depression measures. Moreover, the BFNE was able to differentiate among social phobia subtypes (Heimberg et al., 1983).