title: Psychometric properties of the Spence Children's Anxiety Scale (SCAS) in Mainland Chinese children and adolescents.
abstract: This study examined the psychometric properties of the Spence Children's Anxiety Scale (SCAS) in a Mainland Chinese community sample. The 38-item Chinese version of SCAS was administered to 1878 children and adolescents. Multiple group confirmatory factor analyses supported a common 6-factor model of SCAS for children and adolescents, and for boys and girls. The internal consistency and test-retest reliability of SCAS were satisfactory. Convergent and divergent validity of SCAS were supported by significant correlations with a measure of anxiety to a greater extent than with a measure of depression. Adolescents reported higher anxiety levels than children, and girls reported higher anxiety levels than boys. Compared to other studies, anxiety symptoms of Chinese children were found at a moderate level, but anxiety symptoms of Chinese adolescents were found at a high level. Our findings suggest that the SCAS is suitable for assessing anxiety symptoms in Mainland Chinese children and adolescents.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Shandong Normal University, Jinan 250014, China; Department of Education, Linyi University, Linyi 276005, China.
authors.forename: Jinxia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Xiaopei
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Xing
authors.forename: Meifang
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001007:Anxiety / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D044466:Asian People; D002648:Child; D002681:China; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results