Psychometric properties of the Thai versions of State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children and Child Medical Fear Scale

The purpose of this study was to investigate the psychometric properties of the Thai versions of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children (STAIC ) and the Child Medical Fear Scale (CMFS) in Thai school age children. Subj ects were 419 Thai students in grades 3-6 in three schools in Bangkok. Clas srooms of students were randomly selected, and students within each classro om were divided into two groups to test the two instruments. Data were coll ected from students in the classrooms twice, 2 weeks apart. Content Validit y Indices of the Thai STA IC and the CMFS were between 90-95%. Internal con sistencies were >.80. Test-retest reliability coefficient for the Thai CMFS was .80, and coefficients for the STAIC were .62 for A-State scale and .68 for A-Trait scale. Both instruments seem to be promising anxiety/fear meas ures for Thai school age children; however, the Thai version of STAIC needs modification to enhance reliability and validity. (C) 2000 John Wiley & So ns, Inc.