A brief parent version of the Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale (SCAS-P-8): Factor structure, reliability, and invariance in Ecuadorian children

Abstract

Objective: The present study aimed to assess the psychometric properties and factor structure of the parent-reported brief version of the Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale (SCAS-P-8) in a sample of Ecuadorian children. Method: The community sample consisted of 281 children from 8 to 12 years of age and their parents. Factor structure of the scale was assessed through confirmatory factor analysis. The psychometric properties and sex and age invariance were calculated. Results: The results showed that the one-factor structure of the SCAS-P-8 provided a good fit for the data, and that the structure was invariant across gender and age, indicating that it is suitable for assessing anxiety symptoms in both boys and girls of different ages with comparable accuracy. Psychometric analysis revealed a total ordinal alpha of .85, and corrected item-total correlations varied from .41 to .61, indicating an acceptable level of homogeneity. Conclusion: The study found that the SCAS-P-8 is a psychometrically reliable tool for measuring anxiety in Ecuadorian children from 8 to 12 years of age, as reported by their parents, and can be used in both research and clinical settings to evaluate anxiety symptoms in community populations in Ecuador. Given its brief and accurate nature, the SCAS-P-8 is considered to be a useful tool for use in both research and clinical settings for evaluating anxiety symptoms in children in this country.