Psychosocial Outcomes of School-Age Children Who Received the Lidcombe Program.

This study aims to investigate the effects of obstructive sleep apnea on paediatric psychological and behavioural abnormalities. A total of 1086 paediatric patients with obstructive sleep apnea and 728 sample snoring controls were enrolled in the study. Patients with obstructive sleep apnea underwent bilateral tonsillectomy plus adenoidectomy or adenoidectomy alone. Repeated Autism Behaviour Checklist, Spence Children's Anxiety Scale, and Children's Depression Inventory were performed to assess the autism symptoms, anxiety level and depressive symptoms before and after surgery. The score of Autism Behaviour Checklist in preschool children with obstructive sleep apnea was higher than that in control. In school children with obstructive sleep apnea, the score of Spence Children's Anxiety Scale was also higher. School children with obstructive sleep apnea with depressive symptoms were significantly higher than that in control. The scores of Autism Behaviour Checklist, Spence Children's Anxiety Scale, and Children's Depression Inventory in the obstructive sleep apnea group after surgery were significantly lower than that before surgery. Our study showed that the score of Spence Children's Anxiety Scale and Children's Depression Inventory had a close correlation with the illness course and hypoxia duration. The Spence Children's Anxiety Scale and Children's Depression Inventory scores are also closely associated with the Autism Behaviour Checklist score. These results suggest that obstructive sleep apnea may have a significant impact on autism symptoms, anxiety levels and depressive symptoms in children. We found that the longer the duration of the obstructive sleep apnea course and hypoxia, the greater the impact on anxiety level and depressive symptoms. The suspected autism symptoms, anxiety level and depressive symptoms in children with obstructive sleep apnea were also significantly correlated. Thus, early detection and timely treatment may often reverse the psychological and behavioural abnormalities caused by obstructive sleep apnea.

Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) experience high anxiety which often prompts clinical referral and requires intervention. This study aimed to compare parent and child reports on the Spence Children's Anxiety Scale (SCAS) and a child-reported “worry thermometer” in 88 children aged 8–13 years, 44 with ASD and 44 age, gender, and perceptual IQ matched typically developing children. There were no gender differences in child report on the SCAS and worry thermometers. Results indicated generally good correlations between parent and child self-reported SCAS symptoms for typically developing children but poor agreement in parent-child ASD dyads. The worry thermometer child-report did not reflect child or parent reports on the SCAS. Findings suggest 8–13-year-old children with ASD may have difficulties accurately reporting their anxiety levels. The clinical implications were discussed.

Psychometric properties of the Spence Children's Anxiety Scale in a Hong Kong Chinese community sample

Objective: Social anxiety disorder is among the most common disorders during childhood and adolescence. The present study aimed to compare the effectiveness of short-term intensive dynamic psychotherapy (ISTDP) and schema therapy for mothers on social anxiety in children aged 5 to 6 years in Shahin Shahr. Methods and Materials: This research was a quasi-experimental study with a pre-test, post-test, and follow-up design, including a control group. The research population consisted of all mothers of children aged 5 to 6 years with social anxiety in Shahin Shahr in 2023, from which 45 individuals were purposively selected based on scoring two standard deviations above the mean on the Spence Children's Anxiety Scale (Parent Version) and other entry criteria of the study, and were randomly assigned to two experimental groups and one control group (each containing 15 individuals). One experimental group received 10 weekly sessions of 90 minutes of schema therapy, while the second experimental group underwent 10 weekly sessions of 90 minutes of short-term intensive dynamic psychotherapy (ISTDP). The control group did not receive any intervention. The research tool was the Spence Children's Anxiety Scale (Parent Version, 1999), completed by the mothers at three stages: pre-test, post-test, and a 3-month follow-up. The obtained data were analyzed using repeated measures ANOVA, mixed-design ANOVA, and Bonferroni post-hoc tests with SPSS software version 24. Findings: The results showed that both treatments were effective in improving children's social anxiety (P<0.01), but the effectiveness of schema therapy for mothers on improving children's social anxiety was greater (P<0.01), and the effectiveness of both treatments was sustained until the end of the follow-up period. Conclusion: Both treatment methods, especially schema therapy for mothers, are effective in improving social anxiety in children and can be utilized.

Objective: The aim of this study was to compare the anxiety types of school-age children with and without stuttering based on self-report. A further aim was to examine the possible relationships between anxiety levels and stuttering characteristics in children with stuttering. Material and Methods: The participants included 25 children who stutter aged between 9-12 years (mean age=115.64±9.8 months; 22 boys, 3 girls) and 25 age- and gender- matched children who did not stutter (mean age=116.52±10.3 months; 22 boys, 3 girls). The children's anxiety types were examined with the Spence Children's Anxiety Scale Child Version. The Stuttering Severity Instrument- 4-TR was used to evaluate the stuttering characteristics of children with stuttering. Results: There was no significant difference between the separation anxiety, fear of physical injury, generalized anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder, and panic disorder-agoraphobia sub-factor scores of the children with and without stuttering. However, the social phobia (Mann-Whitney U test; p=0.008; effect size: 0.75) and the Spence Children's Anxiety Scale total scores (independent samples t-test; p=0.009; effect size: 0.77) of the children with stuttering were significantly higher than for children without stuttering. Conclusion: It is thought that the knowledge of speech and language therapists about different types of anxiety may help them to better understand the individual's stuttering. Thus, anxiety levels should be checked during routine stuttering assessments.

Development and validation of a brief screening procedure for pediatric obsessive-compulsive disorder derived from the Spence Children's Anxiety Scale

Background: Anxiety is one of important disorders of mental health in children and adolescents which is influenced by various endogenous and environmental factors. The aim of this study was a comparative survey of anxiety level in primary school children with working and unemployed mothers in Gorgan in 2013. Materials and Methods: In this descriptive-analytical and cross-sectional study, 745 male and female primary school students in public and private schools in Gorgan were selected using a combination sampling (stratification and clustering). For data collection were used Spence Children's Anxiety Scale (SCAS) included 38 questions. The collecting data were analyzed using SPSS-21 statistical software and chi-square and t tests. P values of less than 0.05 were considered as the significance level. Results: The results showed that the average age of students were 9.4 ± 1.65 and in the 38.4% of them were males and 61/6% were female 61/9% of the students had working mothers and 38.1% of their mothers were unemployed. Spence Children's Anxiety Scale total score for the studied sample was 22.74 ± 12.72. A significant difference was observed between two groups of the students with working and unemployed mothers and between two sexes (P<0.05). The separation anxiety and fear of physical harm was the most common disorders and the fear of open spaces also had the lowest prevalence. The prevalence of anxiety disorders in children with unemployed mothers with lower education levels, in female, in families with fewer children and public school students was more. Conclusion: This study showed that the prevalence of anxiety disorders in students whose mothers are unemployed and among the girls was more. Therefore, it’s necessary to pay more attention to the mental health of the mothers and students with considering of their important role in family and society.

Do non-referred young people with Autism Spectrum Disorders and their caregivers agree when reporting anxiety symptoms? A preliminary investigation using the Spence Children's Anxiety Scale

The present study assessed the validity of one of the first autism-specific anxiety measures, the Anxiety Scale for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASC-ASD), and compared its ability to predict parent-reported clinical anxiety to a 'traditional' anxiety measure, the Spence Children's Anxiety Scale (SCAS). Whether the inclusion of the child form for each measure improved the predictive ability of the parent forms was also examined. Eighty-seven parents of autistic children, aged 8-12 years, completed the ASC-ASD, the SCAS, and the Social Communication Questionnaire (SCQ), a screener for autism characteristics. Of these parents, 56 had their child complete the ASC-ASD and SCAS. The children with a reported anxiety diagnosis were rated significantly higher by their parents on both the SCAS and the ASC-ASD compared to the non-anxious children. Pearson's correlation coefficients indicated that the ASC-ASD had good divergent and convergent validity, as demonstrated by a poor, non-significant correlation with the SCQ and a strong, significant correlation with the SCAS. Regression analyses indicated that while the ASC-ASD was a significant predictor of parent-reported clinical anxiety in autistic children, the SCAS was not. Neither model was improved with the inclusion of the respective child form. This study is the first to demonstrate the ability of the ASC-ASD to predict child clinical anxiety disorder status and adds to the growing body of evidence for the validity of this measure. The findings also suggest that parent reports of anxiety may be sufficient to identify autistic children warranting further clinical investigation of anxiety in this age group.

The Spence Children's Anxiety Scale is an instrument widely applied in the assessment of the most common anxiety disorders in children and adolescents. This study examines its psychometric properties and the factorial structure in a large community sample of Spanish-speaking adolescents (N = 1,374) aged 13 to 17 years. The scale demonstrated strong internal consistency and good convergent and discriminant validity. Factor analysis confirmed the 6-factor original model, providing a good fit of the data for the Spanish sample. The good psychometric properties support its use by clinicians and researchers, adding evidence to the international empirical support for this measure.

The structure of anxiety symptoms among adolescents in Iran: A confirmatory factor analytic study of the Spence Children's Anxiety Scale

The Spence Children's Anxiety Scale (SCAS) is a 38-item self-report questionnaire which measures symptoms of DSM-IV anxiety disorders in children and adolescents. This study examined the psychometric properties of the Greek translation of SCAS in a large community sample of children and adolescents (N=1,072), aged 12-17years, in the non-occupied territory of Cyprus. A subsample of these participants was retested 8weeks after the initial assessment. The SCAS demonstrated high internal consistency (alpha=.92) and test-retest reliability (r=.88). The SCAS total scores correlated significantly with the anxious/depressed subscale of the Youth Self-Report, the Columbia Impairment Scale, and with the emotional subscale of the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire. Confirmatory factor analyses revealed the same six-factor structure as the original SCAS. The SCAS proved to be a reliable and valid measure of anxiety symptoms in the Cypriot context.

This study examined the psychometric properties and diagnostic accuracy of the Swedish translations of the Spence Children's Anxiety Scale, self- and parent report versions, in a sample of 104 adolescents presenting at two general psychiatric outpatient units. Results showed high informant agreement and good internal reliability and concurrent and discriminant validity for both versions and demonstrated that this scale can distinguish between adolescents with and without an anxiety disorder in a non-anxiety-specific clinical setting. The relative clinical utility of different cutoff scores was compared by looking at the extent to which dichotomized questionnaire results altered the pretest probability of the presence of a diagnosis as defined by the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-Age Children. Optimized for screening and diagnostic purposes in Sweden, cutoff scores obtained in the current study outperformed a previously identified cutoff score derived from an Australian community sample. The Spence Children's Anxiety Scale is a useful clinical instrument for the assessment of anxiety in adolescents.

Psychometric properties of the Brazilian-Portuguese version of the Spence Children's Anxiety Scale (SCAS): Self- and parent-report versions

A systematic review of the factor structure and reliability of the Spence Children's Anxiety Scale