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Validation of the brief version of the Spence Children's Anxiety Scale for Spanish children (SCAS‐C‐8)
Author(s) -
RodríguezMenchón Miriam,
Orgilés Mireia,
Espada José P.,
Morales Alexandra
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
journal of clinical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.124
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1097-4679
pISSN - 0021-9762
DOI - 10.1002/jclp.23263
Subject(s) - psychology , internal consistency , anxiety , convergent validity , clinical psychology , scale (ratio) , reliability (semiconductor) , developmental psychology , test validity , psychometrics , psychiatry , power (physics) , physics , quantum mechanics
Objective This study aimed to validate the self‐reported brief version of the Spence Children's Anxiety Scale–Children (SCAS‐C‐8) in pre‐adolescent Spanish children. Method Participants were 824 children aged 8–12 from a community sample. The results revealed a good fit to the one‐factor structure, adequate internal consistency ( α = 0.75), and evidence of test‐retest reliability ( α = 0.77). Results The strong relationship between the SCAS‐C‐8 and emotional problems provided evidence of convergent validity. Also, the results showed factorial gender invariance. Conclusion The SCAS‐C‐8 is a suitable instrument for pre‐adolescent Spanish children. The brevity and simplicity of this scale may facilitate early detection and help to narrow the existent gap between the presence of anxiety problems and psychological assistance‐seeking.