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Objective: The Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale‐Self Report (LSAS‐SR) is a self‐report measure of social anxiety (SA), which has shown adequate psychometric properties across cultures. However, no study has systematically evaluated its measurement invariance (MI) between (a) individuals with and without a diagnosis of social anxiety disorder (SAD) and (b) males and females. The current study addresses this issue. Methods: We collected data on 257 (158 females) Italian individuals diagnosed with SAD and 356 (232 females) community‐dwelling adults. Results: We initially found support for the unidimensionality of the Italian LSAS‐SR measurement model in all samples. Using the Graded Response Model, we obtained evidence of partial MI and differential item functioning between community‐dwelling and SAD‐diagnosed individuals and evidence of strong MI between male and female participants. Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that the Italian LSAS‐SR measures the same trait in the same way across the symptom continuum and sexes, making it a psychometrically sound tool for assessment, screening, and research purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change worry (CCW) is a specific worry about climate change, involving thoughts about changes that might occur in the climate system and their possible effects. Nowadays, it is growing especially among adolescents. As there is a lack of measurement tools with adequate psychometric properties to assess CCW in this age group, we investigated the psychometric properties of the Climate Change Worry Scale (CCWS) in youth. Participants were 1,846 Italian adolescents (58% males; mean age = 16.37; SD = 1.27). The expected unidimensional structure was supported by cross-validation with a multigroup confirmatory analysis, and measurement invariance of the scale across sex and age groups. Sex and age differences were analyzed. The CCWS had a high internal consistency, and good validity. Overall, this study contributes to attest that the CCWS is a suitable instrument for measuring CCW in adolescents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]