Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale – Parent Version (RCADS-Parent)

Name: Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale – Parent Version (RCADS-Parent)
Rating: 5 (69 reviews)
Author: Mohammed looti

Mohammed looti

Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale – Parent Version (RCADS-Parent)

By Mohammed looti / October 27, 2025

Table of Contents

Abstract

The Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale – Parent Version (RCADS-Parent) is a comprehensive, 47-item parent-reported questionnaire designed to measure symptoms of anxiety and depression in children and adolescents aged 8 to 18. This instrument is structured to assess six key internalizing psychopathology domains: Separation Anxiety Disorder (SAD), Social Phobia (SP), Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), Panic Disorder (PD), Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), and Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). The RCADS-Parent is widely used in clinical and research settings for symptom screening and monitoring, offering a valuable parental perspective that complements the parallel youth self-report version (RCADS-Child).

Keywords

RCADS-Parent, child anxiety, adolescent depression, Separation Anxiety Disorder, Social Phobia, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Panic Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Major Depressive Disorder, internalizing symptoms, parent-report scale, psychometrics.

Authors

Chorpita, B.F., Spence, S.H.

Purpose

The central purpose of the RCADS-Parent is to provide a standardized, psychometrically sound method for parents or primary caregivers to report on the frequency and severity of internalizing symptoms experienced by their children. This external perspective is particularly useful for identifying potential clinical concerns that may not be fully captured by a child’s self-report, especially given the nature of anxiety and depression symptoms.

By measuring symptoms corresponding to specific DSM-based diagnostic categories, the RCADS-Parent facilitates early identification and tracking of therapeutic progress across distinct anxiety and depressive profiles. The scale yields both disorder-specific subscale scores and broader total scores (Total Anxiety and Total Internalizing), making it a versatile tool for screening high-risk individuals in both community and clinical samples.

Construct

The RCADS-Parent measures the construct of internalizing psychopathology, encompassing the emotional and somatic symptoms associated with anxiety and depressive disorders. The scale is empirically structured to align with six core diagnostic categories, ensuring comprehensive coverage of the most common internalizing issues affecting youth.

The measurement is dimensional, where higher scores indicate greater symptom severity along the six distinct dimensions: Separation Anxiety Disorder, Social Phobia, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Panic Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, and Major Depressive Disorder. This multidimensional approach allows for nuanced understanding beyond a simple total score, aiding in differential diagnosis and treatment planning.

Validity

Rigorous validation studies support the RCADS-Parent’s effectiveness. Research, including a comprehensive psychometric analysis by Ebesutani et al. (2011) involving a large community sample (N=967), demonstrated strong convergent and divergent validity. Convergent validity confirms that the scale measures anxiety and depression symptoms effectively, while divergent validity ensures that it is distinct from measures of externalizing behaviors.

The scale’s scores are interpretable against established normative data, allowing clinicians to compare a child’s symptom severity (via percentile ranks) to that of their peers. This robust empirical foundation confirms that the RCADS-Parent accurately assesses the intended psychological constructs across the age range of 8 to 18 years.

Reliability

The reliability of the RCADS-Parent has been consistently demonstrated across diverse populations. The scale exhibits high internal consistency, ensuring that the items within each of the six subscales are highly interrelated and measure the same underlying construct reliably. Furthermore, strong test-retest reliability has been established, indicating that the scores obtained are stable over time, provided the child’s underlying clinical state remains unchanged.

Factor Analysis

Factor analysis of the RCADS-Parent consistently supports the scale’s hypothesized six-factor structure. This statistical confirmation, derived from studies like Ebesutani et al. (2011), shows that the 47 items cluster naturally into the six specific subscales: Separation Anxiety Disorder, Social Phobia, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Panic Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, and Major Depressive Disorder. This empirical evidence validates the scale’s utility in capturing distinct, yet related, dimensions of internalizing psychopathology in children and adolescents.

Instrument

Test Type: Parent-reported questionnaire/Symptom screening and monitoring tool

Format: 47 items scored on a 4-point Likert scale, ranging from 0 (Never) to 3 (Always).

Language Available: English (Original). Numerous translations are available globally in research and clinical settings, including Dutch, Spanish, and Japanese.

Population Group: Children and adolescents (as reported by parents).

Age Group: 8 to 18 years.

Population Details: Validation and normative data are based on a large community sample of children and adolescents (Ebesutani et al., 2011). Interpretation involves converting raw scores into percentiles for comparison against this normative group.

Test Methodology: Raw scores are derived by summing the items relevant to each of the six subscales. Two composite scores are also generated: the Total Anxiety Scale score (sum of the five anxiety subscales) and the Total Internalizing Scale score (sum of all six subscales). Scores are then converted to age-adjusted percentiles for interpretation, with scores above the 90th percentile often indicating clinically significant levels of symptoms.

Keywords

Child psychopathology, clinical assessment, mental health screening, parent report, normative data, Ebesutani, Chorpita, internalizing disorders.

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: N/A

Affiliation Email addresses: N/A

Correspondence Address: N/A

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The RCADS-Parent was developed and published in 1998 by Chorpita and Spence. While the scale is often made available for clinical and research use, individuals seeking to administer the scale should contact the original authors or the copyright holders to secure necessary permissions and inquire about potential usage fees.

Reference’s

Chorpita, B.F. & Spence, S.H. (1998). The development and validation of the Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale (RCADS).
Ebesutani, C., Bernstein, A., Nakamura, B. J., Chorpita, B. F., & Weisz, J. R. (2010). A psychometric analysis of the Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale—Parent Version in a clinical sample. Journal of abnormal child psychology, 38(2), 249-260.

Items of the Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale – Parent Version (RCADS-Parent)

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

Instructions:

Check the word that shows how often each of these things happens to your child. There are no right or wrong answers.

		Never	Sometimes	Often	Always
1	My child worries about things	0	1	2	3
2	My child feels sad or empty	0	1	2	3
3	When my child has a problem, he/she gets a funny feeling in his/her stomach.	0	1	2	3
4	My child worries when he/she thinks he/she has done poorly at something.	0	1	2	3
5	My child feels afraid of being alone at home.	0	1	2	3
6	Nothing is much fun for my child anymore.	0	1	2	3
7	My child feels scared when taking a test.	0	1	2	3
8	My child worries when he/she thinks someone is angry with him/her.	0	1	2	3
9	My child worries about being away from me.	0	1	2	3
10	My child is bothered by bad or silly thoughts or pictures in his/her mind.	0	1	2	3
11	My child has trouble sleeping.	0	1	2	3
12	My child worries about doing badly at schoolwork.	0	1	2	3
13	My child worries that something awful will happen to someone in the family	0	1	2	3
14	My child suddenly feels as if he/she can’t breathe when there is no reason for this.	0	1	2	3


15	My child has problems with his/her appetite	0	1	2	3
16	My child has to keep checking that he/she has done things right (like the switch is off, or the door is locked)	0	1	2	3

		Never	Sometimes	Often	Always
17	My child feels scared to sleep on his/her own	0	1	2	3
18	My child has trouble going to school in the mornings because of feeling nervous or afraid	0	1	2	3


19	My child has no energy for things	0	1	2	3
20	My child worries about looking foolish	0	1	2	3
21	My child is tired a lot	0	1	2	3
22	My child worries that bad things will happen to him/her	0	1	2	3
23	My child can’t seem to get bad or silly thoughts out of his/her head	0	1	2	3
24	When my child has a problem, his/her heart beats really fast	0	1	2	3
25	My child cannot think clearly	0	1	2	3
26	My child suddenly starts to tremble or shake when there is no reason for this	0	1	2	3
27	My child worries that something bad will happen to him/her	0	1	2	3
28	When my child has a problem, he/she feels shaky	0	1	2	3
29	My child feels worthless	0	1	2	3
30	My child worries about making mistakes	0	1	2	3
31	My child has to think of special thoughts (like numbers or words) to stop bad things from happening	0	1	2	3


32	My child worries what other people think of him/her	0	1	2	3
33	My child is afraid of being in crowded places (like shopping centers, the movies, buses, busy playgrounds)	0	1	2	3


34	All of a sudden my child will feel really scared for no reason at all	0	1	2	3
35	My child worries about what is going to happen	0	1	2	3
36	My child suddenly becomes dizzy or faint when there is no reason for this	0	1	2	3

	Never	Sometimes	Often	Always
My child thinks about death	0	1	2	3
My child feels afraid if he/she have to talk in front of the class	0	1	2	3
My child’s heart suddenly starts to beat too quickly for no reason	0	1	2	3
My child feels like he/she doesn’t want to move	0	1	2	3
My child worries that he/she will suddenly get a scared feeling when there is nothing to be afraid of	0	1	2	3
My child has to do some things over and over again (like washing hands, cleaning, or putting things in a certain order)	0	1	2	3
My child feels afraid that he/she will make a fool of him/herself in front of people	0	1	2	3
My child has to do some things in just the right way to stop bad things from happening.	0	1	2	3
My child worries when in bed at night	0	1	2	3
My child would feel scared if he/she had to stay away from home overnight.	0	1	2	3
My child feels restless.	0	1	2	3

Cite this article

APAMLACHICAGOHARVARDIEEEAMA

Mohammed looti (2025). Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale – Parent Version (RCADS-Parent). Psychological Scales & Instruments Database. Retrieved from https://db.arabpsychology.com/scales/revised-child-anxiety-and-depression-scale-parent-version-rcads-parent/

Mohammed looti. "Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale – Parent Version (RCADS-Parent)." Psychological Scales & Instruments Database, 27 Oct. 2025, https://db.arabpsychology.com/scales/revised-child-anxiety-and-depression-scale-parent-version-rcads-parent/.

Mohammed looti. "Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale – Parent Version (RCADS-Parent)." Psychological Scales & Instruments Database, 2025. https://db.arabpsychology.com/scales/revised-child-anxiety-and-depression-scale-parent-version-rcads-parent/.

Mohammed looti (2025) 'Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale – Parent Version (RCADS-Parent)', Psychological Scales & Instruments Database. Available at: https://db.arabpsychology.com/scales/revised-child-anxiety-and-depression-scale-parent-version-rcads-parent/.

[1] Mohammed looti, "Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale – Parent Version (RCADS-Parent)," Psychological Scales & Instruments Database, vol. X, no. Y, ص Z-Z, October, 2025.

Mohammed looti. Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale – Parent Version (RCADS-Parent). Psychological Scales & Instruments Database. 2025;vol(issue):pages.