Published in:
01-09-2008 | ORIGINAL CONTRIBUTION
Psychometric properties and diagnostic ability of the separation anxiety scale for children (SASC)
Authors:
Xavier Méndez, PhD, José P. Espada, PhD, Mireia Orgilés, PhD, Maria D. Hidalgo, PhD, José M. García-Fernández, PhD
Published in:
European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry
|
Issue 6/2008
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Abstract
This research describes the psychometric properties of a new child self-report measure, the separation anxiety scale for children (SASC), which assesses the frequency of symptoms of separation anxiety in children from 8 to 11. The factor solution with a sample of 1,201 children from 8 to 11, isolated three factors, discomfort from separation, worry about separation, and calm at separation, tested by confirmatory factor analysis, which accounted for 32.80% of the total variance. Results indicated that the SASC has a high internal consistency (α = 0.83). The results revealed a high test-retest reliability of the instrument, and a high number of correctly diagnosed cases. The correlation of scores with other anxiety measures shows that the variable most associated with separation anxiety is trait–anxiety.