title: Examining the Screen for Child Anxiety-Related Emotional Disorder-71 as an assessment tool for anxiety in children with high-functioning autism spectrum disorders.
abstract: The psychometric properties of a questionnaire developed to assess symptoms of anxiety disorders (SCARED-71) were compared between two groups of children: children with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder and comorbid anxiety disorders (ASD-group; n = 115), and children with anxiety disorders (AD-group; n = 122). Anxiety disorders were established with a semi-structured interview (ADIS-C/P), using child- as well as parent-report. Internal consistency, construct validity, sensitivity, specificity, and discriminant validity of the SCARED-71 was investigated. Results revealed that the psychometric properties of the SCARED-71 for the ASD-group were quite comparable to the AD-group, however, the discriminant validity of the SCARED-71 child-report was less in the ASD-group. Raising the parental cutoffs of the SCARED-71 resulted in higher specificity rates, which suggests that research should focus more on establishing alternative cutoffs for the ASD-population.
authors.affiliation: University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Francisca J A
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: van Steensel
authors.forename: Amber A C G
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Deutschman
authors.forename: Susan M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Bögels
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D002659:Child Development Disorders, Pervasive / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010290:Parents; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000295:instrumentation; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D057566:Self Report; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity