title: Identification of degrees of anxiety in children with three- and five-face facial scales.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Facial scales are used in the assessment of emotional states. The scales present different numbers of faces to measure the varying levels of intensity of children's emotional responses. This paper seeks to analyze the whether the subjects are able to match the appropriate descriptors of a degree of anxiety with the corresponding facial image.
  
  
  METHODS
  A sample of 463 children aged 6 to 12 years was taken from the Autonomous Communities of Murcia and the Balearics.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Significant differences were obtained among the six-year-olds, M = 2.58 ( SD = 0. 85), in the three-face scale and M = 2.98 ( SD = 1.52) in the five-face scale. From 7 years on, there were no significant differences in the number of correct responses between the two scales. In general, girls scored higher than boys on both the three-face scale ( M = 2.89, SD = 0.50 vs. M = 2.75, SD = 0.70) and the five-face scale ( M = 4.08, SD = 1.41 vs. M = 3.76, SD = 1.56).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The three-face scale is more appropriate for the correct matching of descriptors to different degrees of anxiety for children aged 6 to 12 years, whereas the five-face scale is more suited to children over 6 years.
authors.affiliation: Universidad de Murcia.
authors.forename: Juan Manuel
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Ortigosa Quiles
authors.forename: Gloria
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: García-Banda García
authors.forename: Karin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Chellew
authors.forename: Esperança
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ponsell Vicens
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Riquelme Marín
authors.forename: María Pilar
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Nicolás Carrasco
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D001007:Anxiety / Q000175:diagnosis*; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D002648:Child; D005149:Facial Expression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D002666:Psychology, Child; D012494:Sampling Studies; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012737:Sex Factors; D013030:Spain; D064232:Visual Analog Scale