Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders Child Version (SCARED Child)

Instructions:

Below is a list of sentences that describe how people feel. Read each phrase and decide if it is “Not True or Hardly Ever True” or “Somewhat True or Sometimes True” or “Very True or Often True” for you. Then, for each sentence, check the box that corresponds to the response that seems to describe you for the last 3 months.

Not True or Hardly Ever True Somewhat True or Sometimes True Very True or Often True
  When I feel frightened, it is hard to breathe. 0 1 2
I get headaches when I am at school 0 1 2
I don’t like to be with people I don’t know well 0 1 2
I get scared if I sleep away from home 0 1 2
I worry about other people liking me 0 1 2
When I get frightened, I feel like passing out 0 1 2
I am nervous 0 1 2
I follow my mother or father wherever they go 0 1 2
People tell me that I look nervous 0 1 2
I feel nervous with people I don’t know well 0 1 2
I get stomachaches at school 0 1 2
When I get frightened, I feel like I am going crazy 0 1 2
I worry about sleeping alone 0 1 2
I worry about being as good as other kids 0 1 2
When I get frightened, I feel like things are not real 0 1 2
Not True or Hardly Ever True Somewhat True or Sometimes True Very True or Often True
  I have nightmares about something bad happening to my parents 0 1 2
I worry about going to school 0 1 2
When I get frightened, my heart beats fast 0 1 2
I get shaky 0 1 2
I have nightmares about something bad happening to me 0 1 2
I worry about things working out for me 0 1 2
When I get frightened, I sweat a lot 0 1 2
I am a worrier 0 1 2
I get really frightened for no reason at all 0 1 2
I am afraid to be alone in the house 0 1 2
It is hard for me to talk with people I don’t know well 0 1 2
When I get frightened, I feel like I am choking 0 1 2
People tell me that I worry too much 0 1 2
I don’t like to be away from my family 0 1 2
I am afraid of having anxiety (or panic) attacks 0 1 2
I worry that something bad might happen to my parents 0 1 2
I feel shy with people I don’t know well 0 1 2
I worry about what is going to happen in the future 0 1 2
When I get frightened, I feel like throwing up 0 1 2
I worry about how well I do things 0 1 2
Not True or Hardly Ever True Somewhat True or Sometimes True Very True or Often True
  I am scared to go to school 0 1 2
I worry about things that have already happened 0 1 2
When I get frightened, I feel dizzy 0 1 2
I feel nervous when I am with other children or adults and I have to do something while they watch me (for example: read aloud, speak, play a game, play a sport) 0 1 2
I feel nervous when I am going to parties, dances, or any place where there will be people that I don’t know well 0 1 2
I am shy 0 1 2

Description

The Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED) is a parent and child self-report scale used to screen for anxiety disorders in children (aged 8-18 years), including generalised anxiety, separation anxiety disorder, panic disorder and social phobia (Birmaher et al., 1997). The child version asks the child questions about themselves. The SCARED consists of 41 items and has five factors that correspond with anxiety disorders outlined in the DMS-IV: 1) Somatic/panic 2) General anxiety 3) Separation anxiety 4) Social phobia 5) School phobia The scale is designed to be used by clinicians as an screener for anxiety disorders in children, and can be used to track symptoms over time. If a child is aged between 8-11 years it is recommended that the clinician explain all questions, or have the child answer the questionnaire sitting with an adult in case they have any questions. It is recommended that both the parent and child version of the SCARED are administered due to the moderate correlation between the two versions.

Validity and Reliability

The 41 item version of the SCARED was developed by Birmaher and colleagues (1999). The scale was administered to 190 children and adolescents attending an outpatient mood/anxiety disorders clinic and their parents. The 190 children and adolescents were diagnosed with either an ‘anxiety’ (n = 45) or ‘nonanxiety’ (n = 145) disorder by a trained clinician. Factor analysis yielded five subscales; (somatic/panic, general anxiety, separation anxiety, social phobia and school phobia). Moderate correlations were found between the parent and child version (Birmaher et al., 1999). A cut-off score for the total score and each subscale was suggested by the test developers and were chosen based on scores which yielded the highest sensitivity and specificity. The sample of 45 children and adolescents with anxiety disorders (aged 9 -19) had a mean total score of 36.1 (17.3), a mean somatic/panic score of 9.4 (6.6), a mean general anxiety score of 9.4 (5.8), a mean separation anxiety score of 5.4 (4.0), a mean social phobia score of 8.0 (4.2) and a mean school phobia score of 3.9 (2.7) (Birmaher et al., 1999). A non-clinical community sample of 521 children and adolescents, aged 12-18, had a mean total score of 16.1 (12.6), a mean somatic/panic score of 2.8 (3.9), a mean general anxiety score of 4.9 (4.3), a mean separation anxiety score of 2.4 (2.5), a mean social phobia score of 4.8 (3.7) and a mean school phobia score of 1.2 (1.6) (Muris et al., 200). The SCARED has demonstrated good discriminate validity. Findings indicated that the total score and score for each of the five factors of the child SCARED significantly differentiated children with anxiety disorders from children with other disorders. Similar results were found for the total score and the panic/somatic and separation anxiety factor scores of the parent SCARED. For the most part scales on both the parent and child version of the SCARED were also able to significantly differentiate between anxiety disorders (Birmaher et al., 1999). Many studies have confirmed the validity and reliability of the SCARED in both clinical and community samples (Hale et al., 2011).

Interpretation

Items are summed to obtain an overall total score and a score for each of the five subscales. Higher scores indicate higher levels of anxiety. A total score of 25 or more may indicate the presence of an anxiety disorder. Panic disorder or significant panic symptoms. Items 1, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 19, 22, 24, 27, 30, 34, 38. A score of 7 or above may indicate the presence of panic disorder or significant somatic symptoms. Generalised anxiety disorder. Items 5, 7, 14, 21, 23, 28, 33, 35, 37. A score of 9 or above may indicate the presence of panic disorder. Separation Anxiety. Items 4, 8, 13, 16, 20, 25, 29, 31. A score of 5 or above may indicate separation anxiety. Social Phobia. Items 3, 10, 26, 32, 39, 40, 41. A score of 8 or above may indicate social phobic disorder. School avoidance. Items 2, 11, 17, 36. A score of 3 or above may indicate school avoidance. Two percentiles are presented to indicate how the SCARED Child Version scores compare to a group of children and adolescents with a diagnosed anxiety disorder and a community sample. A percentile of 50 compared to the Anxiety Sample is typical for children presenting with an anxiety disorder, which will correspond to a percentile compared to the Community Sample of approximately 95.

Developer

Birmaher, B., Khetarpal, S., Cully, M., Brent, D., & McKenzie, S. (1995). Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, University of Pittsburgh.

Number Of Questions

41

References

Birmaher, B., Khetarpal, S., Brent, D., Cully, M., Balach, L., Kaufman, J., & Neer, S. M. (1997). The Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED): Scale construction and psychometric characteristics. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 36(4), 545–553.

Birmaher, B., Brent, D. A., Chiappetta, L., Bridge, J., Monga, S., & Baugher, M. (1999). Psychometric properties of the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED): a replication study. Journal of the American academy of child & adolescent psychiatry, 38(10), 1230-1236.

Hale WW, Crocetti E, Raaijmakers QA, Meeus WH. A meta‐analysis of the cross‐cultural psychometric properties of the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED). Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. 2011 Jan;52(1):80-90.

Muris, P., Merckelbach, H., Ollendick, T., King, N., & Bogie, N. (2002). Three traditional and three new childhood anxiety questionnaires: Their reliability and validity in a normal adolescent sample. Behaviour research and therapy, 40(7), 753-772.

Developer Reference:

Birmaher, B., Khetarpal, S., Cully, M., Brent, D., & McKenzie, S. (1995). Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, University of Pittsburgh.

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Related terms:

  1. Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders Parent Version (SCARED Parent)
  2. Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED)
  3. The Screen for Child Anxiety Related Disorders (SCARED)
  4. Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale – Child version (RCADS-Child)
  5. Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale – Child (SCAS- Child)
  6. Anxiety vs. Anxiety Disorders
  7. Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale – Parent Version (RCADS-Parent)
  8. Young Child PTSD Screen
  9. CHILD STRESS DISORDERS CHECKLIST (CSDC)
  10. Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire- Child Form (TEIQUE-CF)