Validity of the Questionnaire for the Revised Version of the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED-41)

Background: The revised version of the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED-41) is a self-report questionnaire that measures symptoms (panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, separation anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, school phobia, social phobia) of DSM-IV linked anxiety disorders in children with aged 8 to 18 years. The aim of the present study was to examine the validation of the (SCARED-41) in a sample of 300 school children. Materials and Methods: After the translation of the original version of the mentioned Scale to Farsi and confirming it by two psychology and English language professors, the final version was administered to 300 students (150 males, 150 females) of Isfahan who were selected through stratified-cluster sampling. The age range of the participants was between 19 to 35 years. To assess reliability, internal consistency and split half methods were used. Also, concurrent, validity of convergent and divergent and factorial structure were used to determine validity. Results: The range of Cronbach’s alpha and retest were from 0.52 to 0.93 for subscale. Also, the coefficients of total Cronbach’s alpha reliability and retest were 0.93, and 0.92 respectively. Moreover, results of the concurrent validity, validity of convergent and divergent and factorial structure showed that (SCARED-41) has satisfactory validity. Conclusion: The revised version of the SCARED-41 has satisfactory reliability and validity in the sample of Iranian students, and could be used for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes.