Toward convergent validation of children's dental anxiety and disruptiveness ratings.

Abstract

An Anxiety Rating scale was given to 130 parents who assessed their children's anticipatory fear of dentistry. These ratings were related to a Treatment Disruptiveness scale completed by a paedodontist immediately after treatment. Internal consistencies (alpha) of both were > .80. Scores on the two scales were significantly correlated, and results were replicated with a new sample of 194 children. Scores on both scales were significantly correlated with suppression of play activity scores and with severity of dental work. Younger children were more disruptive during treatment than older ones. Preliminary convergent validation suggests that with further development, the parents' Anxiety Rating and play suppression might prove useful in predicting children's anxiety.