Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale – Child version (RCADS-Child)

Name: Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale – Child version (RCADS-Child)
Rating: 5 (77 reviews)
Author: mohammad looti

mohammad looti

Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale – Child version (RCADS-Child)

Anxiety Children Depression

Table of Contents

Instructions:

Check the word that shows how often each of these things happens to you. There are no right or wrong answers.

		Never	Sometimes	Often	Always
1	I worry about things	0	1	2	3
2	I feel sad or empty	0	1	2	3
3	When I have a problem, I get a funny feeling in my stomach	0	1	2	3
4	I worry when I think I have done poorly at something	0	1	2	3
5	I would feel afraid of being on my own at home	0	1	2	3
6	Nothing is much fun anymore	0	1	2	3
7	I feel scared when I have to take a test	0	1	2	3
8	I feel worried when I think someone is angry with me	0	1	2	3
9	I worry about being away from my parents	0	1	2	3
10	I get bothered by bad or silly thoughts or pictures in my mind	0	1	2	3
11	I have trouble sleeping	0	1	2	3
12	I worry that I will do badly at my school work	0	1	2	3
13	I worry that something awful will happen to someone in my family	0	1	2	3
14	I suddenly feel as if I can’t breathe when there is no reason for this	0	1	2	3
15	I have problems with my appetite	0	1	2	3
	I have to keep checking that I have done	0	1	2	3
16	things right (like the switch is off, or the door is locked)

		Never	Sometimes	Often	Always
17	I feel scared if I have to sleep on my own	0	1	2	3
	I have trouble going to school in the	0	1	2	3
18	mornings because I feel nervous or afraid

19	I have no energy for things	0	1	2	3
20	I worry I might look foolish	0	1	2	3
21	I am tired a lot	0	1	2	3
22	I worry that bad things will happen to me	0	1	2	3
23	I can’t seem to get bad or silly thoughts out of my head	0	1	2	3
24	When I have a problem, my heart beats really fast	0	1	2	3
25	I cannot think clearly	0	1	2	3
26	I suddenly start to tremble or shake when there is no reason for this	0	1	2	3
27	I worry that something bad will happen to me	0	1	2	3
28	When I have a problem, I feel shaky	0	1	2	3
29	I feel worthless	0	1	2	3
30	I worry about making mistakes	0	1	2	3
	I have to think of special thoughts (like	0	1	2	3
31	numbers or words) to stop bad things from happening

32	I worry what other people think of me	0	1	2	3
	I am afraid of being in crowded places	0	1	2	3
33	(like shopping centers, the movies,
	buses, busy playgrounds)
34	All of a sudden I feel really scared for no reason at all	0	1	2	3
35	I worry about what is going to happen	0	1	2	3
36	I suddenly become dizzy or faint when there is no reason for this	0	1	2	3

		Never	Sometimes	Often	Always
37	I think about death	0	1	2	3
38	I feel afraid if I have to talk in front of my class	0	1	2	3
39	My heart suddenly starts to beat too quickly for no reason	0	1	2	3
40	I feel like I don’t want to move	0	1	2	3
41	I worry that I will suddenly get a scared feeling when there is nothing to be afraid of	0	1	2	3


42	I have to do some things over and over again (like washing my hands, cleaning or putting things in a certain order)	0	1	2	3


43	I feel afraid that I will make a fool of myself in front of people	0	1	2	3
44	I have to do some things in just the right way to stop bad things from happening	0	1	2	3
		0	1	2	3
45	I worry when I go to bed at night	0	1	2	3
46	I would feel scared if I had to stay away from home overnight	0	1	2	3
47	I feel restless	0	1	2	3

Description

The Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale (RCADS-Child) is a 47 item self-report questionnaire that measures symptoms of depression and anxiety in children and adolescents aged 8 – 18. It consists of six subscales including separation anxiety disorder (SAD), social phobia (SP), generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), panic disorder (PD), obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), and major depressive disorder (MDD). The RCADS-Child can be used to screen for and monitor symptoms of depression and anxiety. A parallel version of the RCADS-Child, The Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale Parent version (RCADS-Parent) assesses the young person’s symptoms of depression and anxiety from the parent perspective and can be utilised in conjunction with the RCADS-Child.

Validity and Reliability

The RCADS-Child was developed by Chorpita and colleagues (2000). The scale was administered to 1641 children and adolescents in the community. Six factors were yielded, consistent with DMS-IV disorders of anxiety and depression, including separation anxiety disorder, social phobia, generalised anxiety, panic disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder and major depressive disorder. The RCADS-Child has demonstrated good structural validity, reliability and convergent and discriminant validity (Chorpita et al., 2000). The RCADS-Child has also been validated in an Australian community sample (N = 405) of children and adolescents aged 8 -18 (de Ross et al., 2002). The sample was divided into two age groups, 8-12 years and 13-18 years of age.

Interpretation

A Total Anxiety Scale score (sum of the 5 anxiety subscales) and a Total Internalizing Scale score (sum of all 6 subscales) are derived, with higher scores indicating increased symptom severity. In addition, items are summed to obtain a total score for each of the six subscales. Subscale scores are converted into percentiles, based on age, compared to the Australian community sample (de Ross et al., 2002). A percentile score of 50 represents average levels of symptoms compared to age related peers, whereas a percentile above, for example, the 90th percentile indicates high levels of symptoms. Sub-scales are computed by summing the following items: Separation Anxiety: items 5, 9, 17, 18, 33, 45, 46 Social Phobia: items 4, 7, 8, 12, 20, 30, 32, 38, 43 Generalized Anxiety: items 1, 13, 22, 27, 35, 37 Panic Disorder: items 3, 14, 24, 26, 28, 34, 36, 39, 41 Obsessive-Compulsive: items 10,16, 23, 31, 42, 44 Major Depression: items 2, 6, 11, 15, 19, 21, 25, 29, 40, 47

Developer

Chorpita, B. F., Yim, L., Moffitt, C., Umemoto, L. A., & Francis, S. E. (2000). Assessment of symptoms of DSM-IV anxiety and depression in children: A revised child anxiety and depression scale. Behaviour research and therapy, 38(8), 835-855.

Number Of Questions

47

References

Chorpita, B. F., Yim, L., Moffitt, C., Umemoto, L. A., & Francis, S. E. (2000). Assessment of symptoms of DSM-IV anxiety and depression in children: A revised child anxiety and depression scale. Behaviour research and therapy, 38(8), 835-855.

de Ross, R. L., Gullone, E., & Chorpita, B. F. (2002). The Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale: A Psychometric. Behaviour Change, 19, 2.

Developer Reference:

Chorpita, B. F., Yim, L., Moffitt, C., Umemoto, L. A., & Francis, S. E. (2000). Assessment of symptoms of DSM-IV anxiety and depression in children: A revised child anxiety and depression scale. Behaviour research and therapy, 38(8), 835-855.

Cite this article

APAMLACHICAGOHARVARDIEEEAMA

mohammad looti (2026). Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale – Child version (RCADS-Child). PSYCHOLOGICAL SCALES. Retrieved from https://scales.arabpsychology.com/s/revised-child-anxiety-and-depression-scale-child-version-rcads-child/

mohammad looti. "Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale – Child version (RCADS-Child)." PSYCHOLOGICAL SCALES, 2 Apr. 2026, https://scales.arabpsychology.com/s/revised-child-anxiety-and-depression-scale-child-version-rcads-child/.

mohammad looti. "Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale – Child version (RCADS-Child)." PSYCHOLOGICAL SCALES, 2026. https://scales.arabpsychology.com/s/revised-child-anxiety-and-depression-scale-child-version-rcads-child/.

mohammad looti (2026) 'Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale – Child version (RCADS-Child)', PSYCHOLOGICAL SCALES. Available at: https://scales.arabpsychology.com/s/revised-child-anxiety-and-depression-scale-child-version-rcads-child/.

[1] mohammad looti, "Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale – Child version (RCADS-Child)," PSYCHOLOGICAL SCALES, vol. X, no. Y, ص Z-Z, April, 2026.

mohammad looti. Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale – Child version (RCADS-Child). PSYCHOLOGICAL SCALES. 2026;vol(issue):pages.

Instructions:

Description

Validity and Reliability

Interpretation

Developer

Number Of Questions

References

Developer Reference:

Cite this article

Share

Related terms:

Requst a

Scale