SCARED
Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED)
The SCARED is a questionnaire completed by the parent to screen for anxiety symptoms in their child or adolescent. The parent rates their child's behavior over the past 3 months in order to identify different anxiety disorders: panic disorder, generalized anxiety, separation anxiety, social phobia, and anxiety-based school refusal.
- Number of questions
- 41 questions
- Estimated duration
- 10 minutes
- Language
- English
- Original name
- Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders
- Target audience
- Children, adolescents
- Authors
- Birmaher B., Khetarpal S., Cully M., Brent D., McKenzie S. (1997)
Preview of the 41 questions
Scoring & interpretation
Each item is rated on a 3-point Likert scale: 0 (Not True or Hardly Ever True), 1 (Somewhat True or Sometimes True), and 2 (Very True or Often True). Adding up the scores yields a total score (0-82) and five subscores corresponding to the clinical dimensions assessed.
Total score
- ≥ 25: possible presence of an anxiety disorder
- ≥ 30: more specific indication of an anxiety disorder
Subscales and clinical cutoffs
- Panic disorder / somatic symptoms (13 items): cutoff ≥ 7
- Generalized anxiety (9 items): cutoff ≥ 9
- Separation anxiety (8 items): cutoff ≥ 5
- Social phobia (7 items): cutoff ≥ 8
- Anxiety-based school refusal (4 items): cutoff ≥ 3
A subscore that exceeds its cutoff points toward the corresponding disorder. These cutoffs are indicative and do not replace a clinical assessment: they serve to guide the interview and the diagnostic process.
Usage
This tool isn't available on Mentaal. To use this questionnaire in your practice, you need a valid license. We invite you to send it directly from the publisher's website.
Available alternatives
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