The revised version of the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED-R): Factor structure in normal children

The revised version of the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED-R) is a self-report questionnaire that measures symptoms of DSM-IV linked anxiety disorders in children. The present study examined the factor structure of the SCARED-R in a sample of 674 normal Dutch school children aged 8 to 13 years. Exploratory factor analysis (principal components with oblimin rotation) clearly pointed in the direction of a 1-factor solution, suggesting that when applied to samples of normal children, the SCARED-R is a unidimensional measure. Additional exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses carried out on parts of the SCARED-R provided some support for the presence of the following factors: panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, separation anxiety disorder, school phobia, social phobia and three types of specific phobias. Implications of these findings for the use of the SCARED-R are briefly discussed.