New evidence on the psychometric performance of the Brief Social Anomie Scale (SAS-10) in post-pandemic Peruvian adults

Abstract

The study of social anomie has gained relevance in recent years, and having a scale that quickly and appropriately measures this construct is necessary. In light of this, the objective of the present study was to study the psychometric functioning of the SAS-10 scale in a community population in Peru. The study involved 957 adults of both sexes (75.1% women and 24.9% men) between 18 and 68 years old. The Brief Social Anomie Scale (SAS-10) and Mental Health Inventory-5 (MHI-5) were used. The study results showed that the two-dimensional related model presented a better psychometric functioning (χ2 = 207.86; df = 34; p < .01; RMSEA = .073 [IC90% .064 – .083]; SRMR = .045; CFI=.98; TLI=.98) than the Bi-factor model. Furthermore, this model showed evidence of being strictly invariant according to the sex and age of the participants. Also, a partial relationship was found between the dimensions of mental health and the dimensions of social anomie. It is concluded that the SAS-10 scale presents a robust psychometric performance and is therefore suitable for measuring social anomie in a community population, considering specific sex and age groups.