The screen for child anxiety related emotional disorders scale: A longitudinal validation study based on Chinese children and adolescents

As anxiety disorders are common and clinically significant psychiatric disorders in children and adolescents linked to a broad spectrum of psychiatric problems, we need valid assessment instruments of anxiety. The Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED) is widely used to assess anxiety symptoms. However, its factor structure remains debated, and its psychometric properties are underexplored in China. This study examined the factor structure of the SCARED and its measurement invariance across gender, age, and time among Chinese students. Specifically, this study used a two-wave longitudinal design, with a six-month interval (Time 1: December 2019-January 2020; Time 2: June 2020-July 2020). Data included 6176 children and adolescents aged 8-19 years (51.6 % boys; mean age = 11.52, SD = 1.62) from Sichuan, China. Confirmatory factor analyses supported a five-factor model as the best fit. Measurement invariances across gender, age, and time were established at the configural, metric, scalar, error variance, factor variance, and factor covariance levels, as supported by changes in the comparative fit index (CFI ≤ 0.004) and root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA ≤ 0.002). Furthermore, structured means modeling analyses showed that girls experienced more anxiety than did boys. Children experienced higher separation anxiety but lower general anxiety and school phobia than did adolescents. Moreover, participants experienced fewer anxiety symptoms at Time 2. Overall, the SCARED was valid and reliable for measuring anxiety symptoms in Chinese children and adolescents, confirming its utility as an objective outcome measure.