Psychometric properties and diagnostic ability of the separation anxiety scale for children (SASC)

Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2008 Sep;17(6):365-72. doi: 10.1007/s00787-008-0678-8. Epub 2008 Apr 21.

Abstract

This research describes the psychometric properties of a new child self-report measure, the separation anxiety scale for children (SASC), which assesses the frequency of symptoms of separation anxiety in children from 8 to 11. The factor solution with a sample of 1,201 children from 8 to 11, isolated three factors, discomfort from separation, worry about separation, and calm at separation, tested by confirmatory factor analysis, which accounted for 32.80% of the total variance. Results indicated that the SASC has a high internal consistency (alpha = 0.83). The results revealed a high test-retest reliability of the instrument, and a high number of correctly diagnosed cases. The correlation of scores with other anxiety measures shows that the variable most associated with separation anxiety is trait-anxiety.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study

MeSH terms

  • Analysis of Variance
  • Anxiety, Separation / diagnosis*
  • Anxiety, Separation / psychology
  • Child
  • Factor Analysis, Statistical
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Personality Inventory / statistics & numerical data
  • Pilot Projects
  • Predictive Value of Tests
  • Psychiatric Status Rating Scales / statistics & numerical data*
  • Psychometrics
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Sampling Studies
  • Students / psychology
  • Students / statistics & numerical data