title: The Separation Anxiety Daily Diary: child version: feasibility and psychometric properties.
abstract: This report describes the feasibility and psychometric properties of the child version of the Separation Anxiety Daily Diary (SADD-C) in 125 children (ages 7-14 years) from German-speaking areas of Switzerland. Children with separation anxiety disorder (SAD; n = 58), "other" anxiety disorders (n = 36), and healthy controls (n = 31) recorded the frequency of parent-child separations, along with associated anxiety, thoughts, reactions and subsequent parental responses. Compliance rates were modest, consistent with past research on self-report diaries with anxious children. The SADD-C was better at discriminating children with SAD from controls than "other anxious" children. The SADD-C demonstrated good convergent validity with maternal and child self-reported anxiety (Revised Child Manifest Anxiety Scale, Separation Anxiety Inventory) and perceived quality of life (Inventory for Quality of Life in Children and Adolescents). Results provide support for the SADD-C as an acceptable and valid method of assessing child symptoms and parent behavior on separation. Findings are discussed with regard to the clinical utility of the SADD-C and strategies to improve compliance.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Basel, Missionsstrasse 64a, Basel, 4055, Switzerland. jennifer.allen@kcl.ac.uk
authors.forename: Jennifer L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Allen
authors.forename: Judith
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Blatter-Meunier
authors.forename: Antonia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ursprung
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Schneider
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001010:Anxiety, Separation / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D005190:Family; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011594:Psychometrics; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013557:Switzerland