A meta-analysis of the cross-cultural psychometric properties of the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED).
BACKGROUND
Accumulating studies have demonstrated that the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED), a modern youth anxiety questionnaire with scales explicitly designed to map onto specific DSM-IV-TR anxiety disorders, has good psychometric properties for children and adolescents from various countries. However, no study has yet been conducted as to the overall strength of the psychometric properties found in these studies.


METHODS
Studies were collected from the PsycINFO, PubMed, SSCI, SCI-Expanded, ERIC, and A&HCI databases from the year of the SCARED's first publication (1997) to the present. The inclusion criteria focused on all studies that examined the psychometric properties of the SCARED.


RESULTS
We retained 21 articles, reporting a total of 25 studies from predominantly Europe (Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands) and the USA, as well as South Africa and China, which matched our inclusion criteria. It was found that the psychometric properties were robust for the SCARED scales related to the symptoms of DSM-IV-TR anxiety disorders, that females scored significantly higher than males and that age had a moderating effect on male and female score differences.


CONCLUSIONS
This meta-analysis suggests that the SCARED can be utilized as a screening instrument for DSM-IV-TR anxiety disorder symptom dimensions for children and adolescents from various countries.
Hale
William W
WW
Research Center Adolescent Development at Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands. b.hale@uu.nl
Crocetti
Elisabetta
E
Raaijmakers
Quinten A W
QA
Meeus
Wim H J
WH
D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D004644:Emotions; D005060:Europe / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011594:Psychometrics; D013019:South Africa / Q000453:epidemiology; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology