Brief Report: Testing the Psychometric Properties of the Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale (SCAS) and the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED) in Autism Spectrum Disorder

• DOI: 10.1007/s10803-018-3774-8
• Publication Date: 2018-10-17T11:00:15Z
• Authors: Sophie Carruthers; Rachel Kent; Matthew J. Hollocks; Emily Simonoff
• Keywords: Male; Adolescent; Psychometrics; Autism Spectrum Disorder; Brief Report; 05 social sciences; 150; 610; Reproducibility of Results; Anxiety Disorders; Humans; Mass Screening; Female; 0501 psychology and cognitive sciences; Affective Symptoms; Prospective Studies; Child

Anxiety is a prevalent and impairing co-morbidity among individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), yet assessment measures, including screening tools, are seldom validated samples. We explored the psychometric properties of child parent reports Spence Children's Scale (SCAS) Screen for Related Disorder-71 (SCARED-71) 49 males ASD (10-16 years, 63% co-occurring anxiety). Both measures had excellent internal consistency fair-good parent-child agreement. The SCAS has higher proportion items evaluating observable behaviors. Predictive power did not differ. Higher cut-points in (SCARED only) lower may enhance prediction this sample. Choice measure should be considered alongside intended purpose.