Reliability and convergent validity of the Childhood Anxiety Sensitivity Index in children and adolescents

Luciano Isolan,Giovanni Salum,Hudson W De Carvalho,Suzielle Menezes Flores,Gisele Gus Manfro

doi:10.1590/s0047-20852012000400001

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to examine the reliability and the convergent validity of the Children Anxiety Sensitivity Index (CASI) with DSM-IV anxiety disorder symptoms, by comparison with the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED), in a community sample of Brazilian children and adolescents. METHODS: Children and adolescents from five schools were selected from a larger study that aimed to assess different aspects of childhood anxiety disorders. All participants completed the CASI and the SCARED. RESULTS: This study supported the reliability of the CASI total score. Girls reported higher total anxiety sensitivity scores than boys and there were no differences in total anxiety sensitivity scores between children and adolescents. This study showed moderate to high correlations between the CASI scores with SCARED scores, all correlations coefficients being positive and significant. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings demonstrate an appropriate reliability and evidence of convergent validity in the CASI in a sample of Brazilian children and adolescents.

Highlights

Anxiety sensitivity (AS) refers to the tendency to fear anxietyrelated sensations and is thought to arise from beliefs about their harmful physical, cognitive, or social consequences[1]
Cronbach’s alpha coefficients for the Children Anxiety Sensitivity Index (CASI) total and CASI factors were generally comparable for boys and girls and for children and adolescents
This study provided evidence that the CASI has a good convergent validity when compared to the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED), a DSM-IV measure of anxiety disorder symptoms, in Brazilian children and adolescents

Summary

Introduction

Anxiety sensitivity (AS) refers to the tendency to fear anxietyrelated sensations and is thought to arise from beliefs about their harmful physical, cognitive, or social consequences[1]. The Childhood Anxiety Sensitivity Index (CASI) is a widely version of the ASI for children with the addition of two items[5]. This modification was made to facilitate understanding of the questionnaire by children and adolescents. Previous studies have consistently demonstrated that the CASI is a reliable and valid instrument for measuring anxiety sensitivity in both clinical and nonclinical samples of children and adolescents[5,6]. Studies have shown that AS in children and adolescents correlates in a theoretically meaningful way with other anxiety measures, mainly those measuring panic symptoms, and that AS may be a risk factor for the development of anxious symptomatology and anxiety disorders in youth[7,8,9,10]

Results

Discussion

Conclusion