Behavioral validation of the Childhood Anxiety Sensitivity Index in children

Examined the construct validity of the Childhood Anxiety Sensitivity Index (CASI) in young children through the use of a behavioral challenge task. El ementary-school children completed the CASI as well as self-report measures of state and trait anxiety and subjective fear prior to and immediately fo llowing a stair-stepping task designed to increase physiological arousal. R esults indicate that the CASI was a significant predictor of the degree of state anxiety and subjective fear reported in response to the challenge tas k, even after controlling for pretask levels of state anxiety and fear, res pectively. Additionally, the CASI predicted changes in fear experienced in response to the challenge task. The findings lend support to the validity o f the CASI in preadolescent children and suggest that the CASI possesses un ique clinical utility relative to measures of trait anxiety. However, resul ts of this study must be interpreted cautiously, because a large portion of the variance in response to arousal was left unaccounted for by the CASI a nd the overall model.