Psychometric properties of the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED) in the general Italian adolescent population: A validation and a comparison between Italy and The Netherlands

In this study examination is given to the psychometric properties of the Italian version of the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED) in a large community sample of adolescents. Additionally. a comparison was made between the anxiety scores of this Italian adolescent cohort (N = 1975) and a comparative Dutch adolescent cohort (N = 1115). Findings revealed that a five-factor structure of the SCARED applied not only to the Italian adolescents from the general community, but also to boys and girls, and to early and middle adolescents. Moreover, sex and age differences on anxiety scores within the Italian sample were found to be consistent with previous studies of adolescent anxiety disorders. Finally, Italian adolescents reported higher anxiety scores than their Dutch peers. Findings of this study highlight that the SCARED is a valid screening instrument to rate anxiety symptoms of Italian adolescents. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.