Reliability, validity, and normative data of the Penn State Worry Questionnaire in 8-12-yr-old children.
The Penn State Worry Questionnaire for Children (PSWQ-C) is a 14-item self-report questionnaire that intends to measure the tendency of children to engage in excessive, generalized, and uncontrollable worry (Chorpita et al., Behav. Res. Ther. 35 (1997) 569-581). The current study further examined the reliability and validity of the PSWQ-C in a large sample of 8-12-yr-old children (N = 486). Psychometric evaluation indicates that it is preferable to discard the three reverse scored items from the PSWQ-C when using the measure in this particular age group. The shortened 11-item PSWQ-C turned out to be reliable in terms of internal consistency and correlated meaningful with a scale measuring anxiety disorders symptoms. That is, PSWQ-C scores were significantly associated with all types of anxiety disorders symptoms but in particular with symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder. Normative data of the PSWQ-C are provided against which scores of individual children in this age range can be compared.
Muris
P
P
Department of Medical, Clinical, and Experimental Psychology, Maastricht University, The Netherlands. p.muris@dep.unimaas.nl
Meesters
C
C
Gobel
M
M
D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011594:Psychometrics; D012016:Reference Values; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires