title: Screen for child anxiety related emotional disorders: are subscale scores reliable? A bifactor model analysis.
abstract: The aim of this study was to investigate the utility of creating and scoring subscales for the self-report version of the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED) by examining whether subscale scores provide reliable information after accounting for a general anxiety factor in a bifactor model analysis. A total of 2420 children aged 9-18 answered the SCARED in their schools. Results suggested adequate fit of the bifactor model. The SCARED score variance was hardly influenced by the specific domains after controlling for the common variance in the general factor. The explained common variance (ECV) for the general factor was large (63.96%). After accounting for the general total score (ωh=.83), subscale scores provided very little reliable information (ωh ranged from .005 to .04). Practitioners that use the SCARED should be careful when scoring and interpreting the instrument subscales since there is more common variance to them than specific variance.
authors.affiliation: Anxiety Disorders Outpatient Program for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (PROTAIA), Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre (HCPA), Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Brazil; Center for Psychological Studies on At-Risk Populations (CEP-Rua), Institute of Psychology, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Brazil. Electronic address: diogo.a.sousa@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Diogo Araújo
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: DeSousa
authors.affiliation: Study Group in Psychopathology and Psychological Assessment, Institute of Psychology, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Brazil. Electronic address: mrzibetti@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Murilo Ricardo
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Zibetti
authors.affiliation: Study Group in Psychopathology and Psychological Assessment, Institute of Psychology, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Brazil. Electronic address: clarissatrentini@terra.com.br.
authors.forename: Clarissa Marceli
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Trentini
authors.affiliation: Center for Psychological Studies on At-Risk Populations (CEP-Rua), Institute of Psychology, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Brazil. Electronic address: silvia.koller@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Silvia Helena
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Koller
authors.affiliation: Anxiety Disorders Outpatient Program for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (PROTAIA), Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre (HCPA), Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Brazil; National Science and Technology Institute for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (INPD), Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre (HCPA), Brazil. Electronic address: gmanfro@gmail.com.br.
authors.forename: Gisele Gus
authors.initials: GG
authors.lastname: Manfro
authors.affiliation: Anxiety Disorders Outpatient Program for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (PROTAIA), Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre (HCPA), Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Brazil; National Science and Technology Institute for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (INPD), Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre (HCPA), Brazil. Electronic address: gsalumjr@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Giovanni Abrahão
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Salum
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000342:Affective Symptoms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D000367:Age Factors; D001007:Anxiety / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011594:Psychometrics; D057566:Self Report; D012737:Sex Factors
keywords: Anxiety; Bifactor model; Factor structure; Psychometrics; Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders