Anxiety in Malaysian children and adolescents: validation of the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED).

Chin-Siang Ang

doi:10.1590/2237-6089-2018-0109

Abstract

Use of the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED) has increased significantly since its publication. Although the validity of the SCARED is well established, most of the samples investigated primarily comprised Caucasian children and, where available, people from Asian cultures such as China. Furthermore, the instrument's utility for screening use in community samples has yet to be validated, although it is commonly advocated for this use. The present study addressed the psychometric properties of the SCARED in a community sample of Malaysian children and adolescents. A total of 386 participants from an urban area, aged between 8 and 17, completed the 41-item SCARED. Confirmatory factor analysis and exploratory factor analysis were performed to investigate the factor structure of the SCARED. Internal consistency ratings for the SCARED's total and subscale scores were good, except for School Avoidance. The validity of the SCARED was further demonstrated through a significant correlation with the Internalizing subscale of the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). In contrast with the five-factor structure proposed for primarily Caucasian samples, factor analysis revealed a four-factor structure for this Malaysian sample. These research findings support the validity of the SCARED and its utility as a screening tool in a community sample of Malaysian children and adolescents.

Highlights

Anxiety is an emotion characterized by a general, unpleasant feeling of apprehension.[1,2] Experiencing occasional anxiety is a common human experience and everyone experiences anxiety at times
Results of multivariate analyses of variance found that girls reported significantly higher scores than boys in Total Anxiety (F1, 384 = 6.2, p < 0.05), Separation Anxiety (F1, 384 = 9.24, p < 0.01), Social Anxiety
The results showed that the two scales were significantly and strongly correlated (r = 0.74, p < 0.001)

Summary

Introduction

Anxiety is an emotion characterized by a general, unpleasant feeling of apprehension.[1,2] Experiencing occasional anxiety is a common human experience and everyone experiences anxiety at times. Anxiety is considered a normal, beneficial emotion in response to fear-producing stimuli that activate the body’s physiological response, known as the fight-orflight response. Involves repeated episodes of intense and excessive anxiety, along with other debilitating symptoms such as sweating, palpitations, heart pounding, chest tightness, lightheadedness, and upset stomach.[2,3] Anxiety disorders can alter how a person processes behaviors, thinking, and emotions that disrupt day-to-day living. A large majority of studies have explored sex differences in anxiety and found that, in general terms, anxiety is somewhat more prevalent

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion