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Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (LSAS)3

Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (LSAS) Test

With 48 questions and an estimated completion time of 9 minutes, the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (LSAS) Test examines fear and avoidance across everyday social and performance situations. Your result can clarify personal patterns, helping you reflect on challenging interactions and identify areas for closer self-understanding.

Questions: 489 minutes

Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (LSAS): sample question card

October 2, 2025October 2, 2025Material has been updatedOctober 2, 2025Material has been published

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4,314 completions

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Scale Explorer

How the Scales are Structured

Social Anxiety Total ScoreSATS

This total score reflects the severity of social anxiety by combining anxiety intensity and avoidance across common social and performance situations.

example score72/144

72/144Moderateexample score

0 – 49Low

50 – 79Moderate

80 – 144High

A score of 72 falls in the Moderate range, suggesting a noticeable level of social anxiety and avoidance across social situations.

FearF

Measures how strongly a person experiences fear/anxiety across a range of social interaction and performance situations.

example score32/72

32/72Moderate fearexample score

0 – 23Low fear

24 – 47Moderate fear

48 – 72High fear

A score of 32 falls in the Moderate fear range, suggesting noticeable anxiety in some social situations but not consistently at a high level.

AvoidanceA

Measures how often a person tends to avoid social situations due to anxiety or fear.

example score31/72

31/72Moderate avoidanceexample score

0 – 23Low avoidance

24 – 47Moderate avoidance

48 – 72High avoidance

A score of 31 falls in the Moderate avoidance range, suggesting a noticeable tendency to avoid some social situations, though not consistently across most situations.

Interpersonal Contact: FearICF

Measures the intensity of fear and anxiety experienced during informal interpersonal interactions.

example score14/27

14/27Moderateexample score

0 – 9Low

10 – 18Moderate

19 – 27High

A score of 14 falls in the Moderate range, suggesting noticeable fear or anxiety in informal interpersonal contact that may affect comfort in some social situations.

Interpersonal Contact: AvoidanceICA

Measures how often a person avoids interpersonal contact situations due to anxiety or fear.

example score11/27

11/27Moderate avoidanceexample score

0 – 8Low avoidance

9 – 18Moderate avoidance

19 – 27High avoidance

A score of 11 falls in the Moderate avoidance range, suggesting the person sometimes avoids interpersonal contact situations when they feel anxious.

Formal Interactions: FearFIF

Assesses the intensity of fear and anxiety in formal communication and situations where you need to make an impression on unfamiliar people.

example score8/18

8/18Moderateexample score

0 – 5Low

6 – 11Moderate

12 – 18High

A score of 8 falls in the Moderate range, suggesting noticeable but not extreme fear in formal interactions and impression-making situations.

Formal Social Interaction: AvoidanceFSIA

Measures how often a person avoids formal interactions and situations with unfamiliar people due to anxiety.

example score9/18

9/18Moderate avoidanceexample score

0 – 5Low avoidance

6 – 12Moderate avoidance

13 – 18High avoidance

A score of 9 falls in the Moderate avoidance range, suggesting a noticeable tendency to avoid some formal or unfamiliar social situations, though not consistently across all such contexts.

Public Places: FearPPF

Measures fear and anxiety about performing personal actions in public places.

example score6/12

6/12Moderateexample score

0 – 3Low

4 – 7Moderate

8 – 12High

A score of 6 falls in the Moderate range, suggesting a noticeable but not extreme level of fear in public-place situations.

Public Places: AvoidancePPA

Measures how much a person avoids activities in public places due to anxiety or fear.

example score6/12

6/12Moderate avoidanceexample score

0 – 3Low avoidance

4 – 8Moderate avoidance

9 – 12High avoidance

A score of 6 indicates moderate avoidance of public-place situations, suggesting these activities are sometimes avoided when anxiety or fear is anticipated.

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DATA-BASED USER COHORTS

Who Usually Takes This Test?

People avoiding social situations

41%OF USERS

They often skip parties, meetings, or speaking up because the anxiety feels overwhelming and they want to understand how severe it is.

Students and young professionals

34%OF USERS

They feel nervous during presentations, interviews, or networking and want a quick check of how much this holds them back.

Therapy and research clients

25%OF USERS

They take the test to help a clinician or study track social anxiety levels over time and measure progress.

BASED ON AGGREGATED, ANONYMIZED DATA FROM TENS OF THOUSANDS OF FREUDLY USERS.

Benchmarking

See How You Compare

Once you complete the test, your results are compared with real-world data from people in your country.
Below is a preview of how scores are typically distributed across each scale.

Shaded area — where most people score

Dot — the average

You — your score lands on each curve after the test— your score, after the test

Social Anxiety ScaleSAS

You?

Average66.5

Typical rangeTypical43.9 – 89.1

Possible0 – 144

FearF

You?

Average24.5

Typical rangeTypical14.7 – 34.2

Possible0 – 72

AvoidanceA

You?

Average20.9

Typical rangeTypical9.4 – 32.5

Possible0 – 72

Interpersonal Contact: FearICF

You?

Average7.1

Typical rangeTypical2.1 – 12

Possible0 – 27

Interpersonal Contact: AvoidanceICA

You?

Average14.7

Typical rangeTypical9.6 – 19.8

Possible0 – 27

Formal communication: fearFcf

You?

Average6.5

Typical rangeTypical4.3 – 8.7

Possible0 – 18

Formal communication: avoidanceFca

You?

Average12.1

Typical rangeTypical8.7 – 15.4

Possible0 – 18

Public Places: FearPPF

You?

Average4.9

Typical rangeTypical2.7 – 7.1

Possible0 – 12

Public Places: AvoidancePPA

You?

Average3

Typical rangeTypical1.5 – 4.5

Possible0 – 12

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SAMPLE QUESTIONS

Example Questions From the Test

This questionnaire assesses the impact of social phobia on your life across a range of situations. Read each situation carefully and answer two questions about that situation: (1) the intensity of fear or anxiety experienced in that situation; and (2) how often you avoid such situations. If an item describes a situation you do not typically encounter, imagine that you are in that situation and rate the degree to which you would fear this hypothetical situation and how often you would try to avoid it. Base your ratings on how you have felt in similar situations during the past week.

- No fear or anxiety
- Mild
- Moderate
- Severe fear or anxiety
- Never
- Rarely
- Often
- Always
- None
- Mild
- Moderate
- Severe fear or anxiety

These are 3 of the 48 real questions — the rest appear in the test. No sign-up needed to start.

WHAT THE TEST MEASURES

Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (LSAS) Test - Description and methodology of the test

social anxiety

People who notice intense discomfort, self-consciousness, or withdrawal in social settings can use the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (LSAS) Test to organize those experiences across familiar situations. It suits anyone seeking a structured social anxiety assessment, whether concerns involve conversation, performance, authority figures, public actions, or meeting unfamiliar people. The result highlights patterns of fear and avoidance rather than a single overall impression.

What This Assessment Measures

Results cover three settings:

The social anxiety test shows: Social Anxiety Total Score (0-144), Low 0-49, Moderate 50-79, High 80-144; Fear (0-72), Low fear 0-23, Moderate fear 24-47, High fear 48-72; Avoidance (0-72), Low avoidance 0-23, Moderate avoidance 24-47, High avoidance 48-72.
These scales map: Interpersonal Contact: Fear (0-27), Low 0-9, Moderate 10-18, High 19-27; Interpersonal Contact: Avoidance (0-27), Low avoidance 0-8, Moderate avoidance 9-18, High avoidance 19-27; Formal Interactions: Fear (0-18), Low 0-5, Moderate 6-11, High 12-18; Formal Social Interaction: Avoidance (0-18), Low avoidance 0-5, Moderate avoidance 6-12, High avoidance 13-18.
These map: Public Places: Fear (0-12), Low 0-3, Moderate 4-7, High 8-12; Public Places: Avoidance (0-12), Low avoidance 0-3, Moderate avoidance 4-8, High avoidance 9-12.

Methodology and Scientific Basis

The items present social situations in paired form. One response rates fear or anxiety from no or mild discomfort to severe anxiety; the companion response rates avoidance or frequency from never or rarely to often or always. This pairing yields separate fear and avoidance scores, a total score, and context-specific results without a clinician interview.

These responses follow the structure of the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (Liebowitz, 1987). Heimberg et al. (1999), Fresco et al. (2001), and Baker et al. (2002) studied its psychometric properties in clinician-administered and self-report formats. Their findings support the source instrument’s framework, but they do not establish identical norms for every online presentation.

As a social anxiety questionnaire, it is best read as a profile of reported reactions: higher values indicate more anxiety or avoidance within the relevant scale, while the displayed bands classify each result. Scores can shift with current circumstances, self-awareness, and response style, so the pattern across situations matters more than a single number. The result does not establish a diagnosis.

Author: Michael R. Liebowitz

Literature:

Liebowitz, M. R. (1987). Social Phobia. Modern Problems in Pharmacopsychiatry, 22, 141-173. 10.1159/000414022
Fresco, D. M., Coles, M. E., Heimberg, R. G., Liebowitz, M. R., Hami, S., Stein, M. B., & Goetz, D. (2001). The Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale: A comparison of the psychometric properties of self-report and clinician-administered formats. Psychological Medicine, 31(6), 1025-1035. 10.1017/S0033291701004056
Heimberg, R. G., Horner, K. J., Juster, H. R., Safren, S. A., Brown, E. J., Schneier, F. R., & Liebowitz, M. R. (1999). Psychometric properties of the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale. Psychological Medicine, 29(1), 199-212. 10.1017/S0033291798007879
Baker, S. L., Heinrichs, N., Kim, H.-J., & Hofmann, S. G. (2002). The Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale as a self-report instrument: A preliminary psychometric analysis. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 40(6), 701-715. 10.1016/S0005-7967(01)00060-2

Updated: 2025-10-02