A Validation of the Korean Version of the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders-Brief

This study aims to validate the Korean version of the SCARED-Brief, originally developed by Birmaher et al. (1999), by examining its psychometric properties, including reliability and validity. Data were obtained from 356 pairs of children with trauma experiences and their caregivers, as well as 533 adolescents. The psychometric evaluation indicated acceptable item properties, with confirmatory factor analysis supporting the good fit of a one-factor model. The internal consistency was excellent, with .83 for children, .87 for caregivers, and .79 for adolescents. Concurrent validity was established through significant positive correlations with measures of anxiety, depression, and PTSD. Furthermore, ROC curve analysis determined that a cutoff score of 3 or higher effectively discriminates between clinical and non-clinical groups. The study also identified a critical item for the scale's application in urgent clinical settings. The findings are discussed in terms of their implications and limitations, highlighting the scale's utility in both research and practice.