Assessment of symptoms of DSM-IV anxiety and depression in children: a revised child anxiety and depression scale

The practical significance of assessing disorders of emotion in children is well documented, yet few scales exist that possess conceptual if not empir ical relevance to dimensions of DSM anxiety or depressive disorders. The cu rrent study evaluated an adaptation of a recently developed anxiety measure (Spence Children's Anxiety Scale; [Spence, S. H. (1997). Structure of anxi ety symptoms among children: a confirmatory factor-analytic study. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 106, 280-297; Spence, S. H. (1998). A measure of an xiety symptoms among children. Behaviour Research ann Therapy, 36, 545-566] ), revised to correspond to dimensions of several DSM-IV anxiety disorders as well as major depression. This investigation involved initial evaluation of the factorial validity of the revised measure in a school sample of 164 1 children and adolescents and reliability and validity in an independent s ample of 246 children and adolescents. Results yielded an item set and fact or definitions that demonstrated structure consistent with DSM-IV anxiety d isorders and depression. The revised factor structure and definitions were further supported by the reliability and validity analyses. Some implicatio ns for assessment of childhood anxiety and depressive disorders are discuss ed. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.