A meta-analysis of the cross-cultural psychometric properties of the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED)

• Published in: Journal of child psychology and psychiatry Vol. 52; no. 1; pp. 80 - 90
• Main Authors: Hale, William W., Crocetti, Elisabetta, Raaijmakers, Quinten A.W., Meeus, Wim H.J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.01.2011; Wiley-Blackwell; Blackwell
• Subjects: Adolescents; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Anxiety; Anxiety Disorders; Anxiety Disorders - diagnosis; Anxiety Disorders - ethnology; Anxiety Disorders - psychology; Anxiety disorders. Neuroses; Belgium; Biological and medical sciences; Child; Child & adolescent psychiatry; Child clinical studies; Children; China; China - epidemiology; Clinical assessment; cross-cultural; Cross-Cultural Comparison; Cultural Characteristics; Cultural differences; Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; Effect Size; Elementary Secondary Education; Emotional disorders; Emotional Disturbances; Emotions; Europe - epidemiology; Foreign Countries; Germany; Humans; Italy; Medical diagnosis; Medical sciences; Meta Analysis; Miscellaneous; Netherlands; Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; Psychological tests; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychometric properties; Psychometrics; Psychometrics. Diagnostic aid systems; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Quantitative psychology; Questionnaires; SCARED; Scores; Screening Tests; South Africa; South Africa - epidemiology; Symptoms; Systematic review; Techniques and methods; United States; United States - epidemiology; Netherlands; Belgium; United States; China; Italy; South Africa; Germany; Europe; Human; Social environment; Affect affectivity; Crosscultural study; Questionnaire; Sex; Anxiety disorder; meta-analysis; Psychometrics; Infantile experience; Review; Emotional disorder; Metaanalysis; Test validation; SCARED; children; Adolescent; cross-cultural; Anxiety; Adolescents; Child; Age
• ISSN: 0021-9630; 1469-7610
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-7610.2010.02285.x

Background:  Accumulating studies have demonstrated that the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED), a modern youth anxiety questionnaire with scales explicitly designed to map onto specific DSM‐IV‐TR anxiety disorders, has good psychometric properties for children and adolescents from various countries. However, no study has yet been conducted as to the overall strength of the psychometric properties found in these studies. Methods:  Studies were collected from the PsycINFO, PubMed, SSCI, SCI‐Expanded, ERIC, and A&HCI databases from the year of the SCARED’s first publication (1997) to the present. The inclusion criteria focused on all studies that examined the psychometric properties of the SCARED. Results:  We retained 21 articles, reporting a total of 25 studies from predominately Europe (Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands) and the USA, as well as South Africa and China, which matched our inclusion criteria. It was found that the psychometric properties were robust for the SCARED scales related to the symptoms of DSM‐IV‐TR anxiety disorders, that females scored significantly higher than males and that age had a moderating effect on male and female score differences. Conclusions:  This meta‐analysis suggests that the SCARED can be utilized as a screening instrument for DSM‐IV‐TR anxiety disorder symptom dimensions for children and adolescents from various countries.