Psychometric Properties of the Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale (SCAS) in Cypriot Children and Adolescents

Abstract

The Spence Children's Anxiety Scale (SCAS) is a 38-item self-report questionnaire which measures symptoms of DSM-IV anxiety disorders in children and adolescents. This study examined the psychometric properties of the Greek translation of SCAS in a large community sample of children and adolescents (N = 1,072), aged 12-17 years, in the non-occupied territory of Cyprus. A subsample of these participants was retested 8 weeks after the initial assessment. The SCAS demonstrated high internal consistency (alpha = .92) and test-retest reliability (r = .88). The SCAS total scores correlated significantly with the anxious/depressed subscale of the Youth Self-Report, the Columbia Impairment Scale, and with the emotional subscale of the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire. Confirmatory factor analyses revealed the same six-factor structure as the original SCAS. The SCAS proved to be a reliable and valid measure of anxiety symptoms in the Cypriot context.

Relations Among Children's Coping Strategies and Anxiety: The Mediating Role of Coping Efficacy

“…Coefficient alpha for the SCAS total score was almost exactly the same as those reported in previous literature (e.g., C. A. Essau et al, 2011;Ishikawa et al, 2009;Spence, 1998), whereas the Coefficient alphas for the CCSEQ and the CCSC-R1 found in this study were higher than those reported previously (Ayers et al, 1996;Sandler, Tein, et al, 2000).…”

“…With regard to the SCAS in particular, numerous studies have demonstrated its generalizability across various countries around the world: Belgium (Muris, Merckelbach, et al, 2002), Germany (Essau, Sakano, Ishikawa, & Sasagawa, 2004), Greece (Essau, Anastassiou-Hadjicharalambous, & Munoz, 2011;Mellon & Moutavelis, 2007), Hong Kong (Li et al, 2011), Japan (Essau, et al, 2004;Ishikawa et al, 2009), Spain (Tortella-Feliu, Balle, Servera, & de la Banda, 2005, as cited in Essau, et al, 2011, South-Africa (Muris, Schmidt, et al, 2002), The Netherlands (Muris et al, 2000), and…”

“…The results of these studies indicate high internal consistency reliability for the total and subscale scores, and the factor structure has generally been maintained (e.g., C. A. Essau et al, 2011;Ishikawa et al, 2009;Li et al, 2011;Muris et al, 2000). The SCAS has not been used with Canadian children and its factor structure has not been examined in North America.…”

Spanish Validation of the Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale

“…Along with the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED) [14], the SCAS is now used extensively in clinical practice [13], but unlike the SCARED, the SCAS has the following advantages [10,[15][16][17]: (a) includes all the anxiety disorders recognized by the DSM-IV as the most common in children, including a social phobia subscale, (b) provides more information on anxiety disorders despite a lower number of items, facilitating a more rapid administration, (c) was developed with a community sample rather than a clinical sample, highlighting their utility to assess anxiety symptoms in the general population, and (d) has a greater range of response options allowing for a broader range of symptom severity. The SCAS has been adapted and validated among Dutch [15], German [13], South-African [18], Japanese [12,19], NorthAmerican [17], Catalan [20], Hellenic [21], Mexican [22], Chinese [23], Colombian [24], Cypriot [25], and English, Italian, Swedish and Cypriot Greek samples [26]. The internal consistency of the scale is high and ranges for the overall measure from 0.80 with Japanese children [12] to 0.93 with Australian population [11].…”

Cross-cultural adaptation of the Spence Children's Anxiety Scale in Malaysia

“…15 The original SCAS 21 and crossculturally adapted versions to other languages, such as Dutch, 22 German, 23 Hellenic Greek, 24 Mexican, 25 Japanese, 26 Cypriot, 27 English, Swedish, and Italian, 28 have achieved acceptable psychometric properties. The aim of this study was to cross-culturally adapt the SCAS (child and parent versions) to the Malay language.…”