Avoidant Personality Severity Scale (APSS)

APSS-14 is a self-assessment tool designed to measure avoidant personality traits. It is used to evaluate pathological tendencies associated with avoidant personality, including social inhibition, feelings of inadequacy, hypersensitivity to criticism, preoccupation with rejection, limited social connectedness, and longing for social acceptance.

Over the years our understanding of avoidant behaviors has evolved and the change in the classifications and shift in focus on accessing subclinical traits has been recognized.

Avoidant Personality Facets.

Avoidance (Social Inhibition): Social Inhibition refers to a tendency to be cautious in social situations.

Inferiority (Feelings of Inadequacy): Inferiority refers to the state of feeling inadequacy and low self-esteem.

Defensiveness (Hypersensitivity to Criticism or Rejection): Defensiveness is a natural response to the perceived threat, whether physical or emotional.

Overconcern (Preoccupation with Criticism or Rejection): Overconcern in the subclinical perspective refers to the state of feeling concerned about criticism or rejection in social situations without impairing overall social and psychological well-being.

Insularity (Limited Social Circle): Insularity refers to the state of being detached or limiting social interactions with others.

Yearning (Longing for Social Connection): Yearning refers to the desire to build meaningful relationships. From the psychosocial perspective, it is an emotional state characterized by a sense of emptiness or feeling of isolation that arises from the inadequacy of social connections.

The assessment consists of 14 statements and typically requires 4–6 minutes to complete.

The Avoidant Personality Severity Scale (APSS) contains 14 items scored on a five-point response scale.

The assessment evaluates six facets:

Avoidance (Social Inhibition)
Inferiority (Feelings of Inadequacy)
Defensiveness (Hypersensitivity to Criticism)
Overconcern (Preoccupation with Criticism)
Insularity (Limited Social Circle)
Yearning (Longing for Social Connection)

Higher scores indicate greater expression of avoidant personality-related characteristics.

Facet scores are standardized to a 0–100 scale and interpreted using qualitative severity ranges. The overall score reflects the general tendency toward avoidant personality characteristics.

You are avoiding occupational activities that involve significant interpersonal contact because of fears of criticism, disapproval, or rejection.

You are unwilling to get involved with people unless being liked.

You are showing restraint within intimate relationships because of the fear of being shamed or ridiculed.

You are preoccupied with being criticized or rejected in social situations.

You view yourself as socially inept, personally unappealing, or inferior to others.

You are reluctant to take personal risks or engage in new activities because they may prove embarrassing.

Your childhood was socially fine.

You fear criticism, disapproval, or rejection.

You feel socially inept.

You avoid work or activities that make you anxious.

You have low self-esteem.

You are afraid to speak up for fear of saying the wrong thing, blushing, or stammering.

You avoid eating in public places.

You have a high level of self-consciousness.