Spence children’s anxiety scale through parent report: Psychometric properties in a community sample of Iranian children

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Department of Psychology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Golestan University, Gorgan, Iran.

2 Department of Psychology, Bandar Gaz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Bandar Gaz, Iran

Abstract

This study examined the psychometric properties of the parent version of the Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale [SCAS-P] as part of the process of developing the Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale for Parents in a community sample of Iranian children; 315 mothers and children aged six to ten years participated in the study. The results of confirmatory factor analysis provided support for six inter-correlated factors, that corresponded with the child self-report as well as with the classification of anxiety disorders by DSM-IV namely separation anxiety, generalized anxiety, social phobia, panic/agoraphobia, obsessive–compulsive disorder, and fear of physical injuries. The SCAS-P demonstrated moderate to high internal consistency (alpha = 0.65–0.89) and test–retest reliability (interclass correlation coefficients = 0.39–0.68 over 2 weeks). Evidence was found for both convergent and divergent validity: the measure correlated well with the parent report for internalizing symptoms, and lower with externalizing symptoms. A MANOVA indicated no significant gender or age differences for the total scale score or any subscale scores. The SCAS-P is recommended as a screening instrument for normal children.

Keywords

References

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Journal of Research in Psychopathology
Volume 1, Issue 2
October 2020
Pages 40-48

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