Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale – Parent (SCAS-Parent)

Name: Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale – Parent (SCAS-Parent)
Rating: 5 (69 reviews)
Author: Mohammed looti

Mohammed looti

Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale – Parent (SCAS-Parent)

By Mohammed looti / October 27, 2025

Table of Contents

Abstract

The Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale – Parent (SCAS- Parent) is a standardized parent-report instrument designed for the assessment of anxiety symptoms in children and adolescents, typically ranging in age from 6 to 18 years. It serves as a vital tool in clinical and research settings, providing a comprehensive measure of overall child anxiety.

Crucially, the scale is structured around six distinct subscales, each corresponding to specific categories of child anxiety disorders recognized by the diagnostic criteria of the DSM-IV. These subscales include Panic Attack and Agoraphobia, Separation anxiety, Physical Injury Fears, Social Phobia, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, and Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)/Overanxious Disorder.

Keywords

SCAS-Parent, child anxiety, parent report, separation anxiety, social phobia, generalized anxiety disorder, panic attack, agoraphobia, obsessive compulsive, psychological scale, clinical assessment, DSM-IV.

Authors

Nauta, Scholing, Rapee, Abbott, Spence, Waters.

Purpose

The primary objective of the SCAS-Parent is to provide clinicians and researchers with a reliable and psychometrically sound measure of anxiety symptomology in youth, as perceived and reported by their primary caregiver. Utilizing a parent-report format minimizes reporting biases inherent in child self-report measures, especially for younger children or those with limited insight.

The scale is designed not only for screening high levels of overall anxiety but also for differentiating between specific anxiety profiles, thereby assisting in the differential diagnosis of anxiety disorders consistent with established classification systems like the DSM-IV. This detailed breakdown allows for targeted therapeutic interventions.

Construct

The SCAS-Parent measures the multifaceted psychological construct of childhood anxiety. This construct is operationalized through 39 items divided into six specific subscales, intended to capture the spectrum of clinically relevant anxiety symptoms.

The six core dimensions measured are:

Panic Attack and Agoraphobia
Separation anxiety
Fears of Physical Injury (Specific Phobias)
Social Phobia
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) / Overanxious Disorder

Validity

The scale underwent comprehensive validation procedures during its development. The normative sample used for validation (Nauta et al., 2004) included 484 parents of children diagnosed with anxiety disorders and 261 parents belonging to a normal control group. This dual-group validation process ensured that the scale could effectively differentiate between clinical and non-clinical populations.

The construct validity was strongly supported by the outcomes of the Confirmatory Factor Analysis, which confirmed that the six-factor structure aligns both with the child self-report version of the scale and with the established clinical classification of anxiety disorders as defined by the DSM-IV criteria.

Reliability

While traditional internal consistency measures (like Cronbach’s Alpha) were not detailed in the source abstract, the reliability of the SCAS-Parent can be inferred through the reported parent–child agreement correlations, which serve as a measure of inter-rater reliability.

The agreement between parent reports (SCAS-Parent) and child self-reports (SCAS-Child) demonstrated moderate to strong correlations. In the anxiety-disordered group, parent–child agreement ranged from 0.41 to 0.66. In the normal control group, the agreement ranged from 0.23 to 0.60, indicating consistent reporting across different populations, particularly in the clinical range.

Factor Analysis

The dimensional structure of the SCAS-Parent was empirically tested and confirmed using Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) by Nauta and colleagues in 2004. The results provided robust evidence for a model comprising six distinct, yet intercorrelated, factors.

These six factors precisely correspond to the major anxiety disorder categories relevant to children and adolescents, namely: Separation anxiety, Generalized anxiety, Social Phobia, Panic/Agoraphobia, Obsessive–Compulsive Disorder, and Fear of Physical Injuries. This factor structure ensures the clinical utility and theoretical consistency of the instrument.

Interpretation and Scoring

Scoring for the SCAS-Parent yields a total raw score, which ranges from 0 to 114, and six individual subscale scores. Responses are scored on a 4-point Likert scale (0=Never, 3=Always). The raw scores are then converted into percentile ranks based on two normative samples: the Anxiety Disordered Children sample and the Normal Population Children sample, accounting for the child’s age and gender.

The distribution of items across the subscales is as follows:

Panic attack and agoraphobia: Items 12, 19, 25, 27, 28, 30, 32, 33, 34 (9 items)
Separation anxiety: Items 5, 8, 11, 14, 15, 38 (6 items)
Physical injury fears: Items 2, 16, 21, 23, 29 (5 items)
Social phobia: Items 6, 7, 9, 10, 26, 31 (6 items)
Obsessive compulsive: Items 13, 17, 24, 35, 36, 37 (6 items)
Generalized anxiety disorder: Items 1, 3, 4, 18, 20, 22 (6 items)

A score exceeding the 84th percentile (which is equivalent to one standard deviation above the mean for the normal population sample) is typically considered to be clinically significant, warranting further assessment or intervention.

Instrument

Test Type: Psychometric Scale (Parent Report)

Format: 4-point Likert scale (Never, Sometime, Often, Always)

Language Available: English (Numerous translations available globally, though not explicitly listed in the source content)

Population Group: Parents reporting on their children.

Age Group: Children and adolescents aged 6 to 18 years.

Population Details: Normed on clinical (anxiety-disordered) and non-clinical (normal control) populations.

Test Methodology: Quantitative assessment of anxiety symptoms aligned with DSM-IV categories.

Keywords

psychological assessment, child psychopathology, clinical psychology, behavior research, parent-report measure, psychometrics, developmental disorders.

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not provided in source.

Affiliation Email addresses: Not provided in source.

Correspondence Address: Not provided in source.

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The scale was developed and validated in 2004 based on the foundational research by Nauta, Scholing, Rapee, Abbott, Spence, and Waters. For comprehensive information regarding current permissions, test administration guidelines, licensing fees, and access to normative data, interested parties should consult the official Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale website at www.scaswebsite.com.

References

Nauta, Scholing, Rapee, Abbott, Spence and Waters. (2004). A parent report measure of children’s anxiety. Behaviour Research and Therapy. 42 (7), 813-839.

Nauta, Scholing, Rapee, Abbott, Spence and Waters. (2004). A parent report measure of children’s anxiety. Behaviour Research and Therapy. 42 (7), 813-839. http://www.scaswebsite.com/

Items of the Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale – Parent (SCAS- Parent)

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

Below is a list of items that describe children. For each item, please tap the response that best describes your child. Please answer all the items.

		Never	Sometime	Often	Always
1	My child worries about things	0	1	2	3
2	My child is scared of the dark	0	1	2	3
3	When my child has a problem, s(he) complains of having a funny feeling in his / her stomach	0	1	2	3
4	My child complains of feeling afraid	0	1	2	3
5	My child would feel afraid of being on his/her own at home	0	1	2	3
6	My child is scared when s(he) has to take a test	0	1	2	3
7	My child is afraid when (s)he has to use public toilets or bathrooms	0	1	2	3
8	My child worries about being away from us / me	0	1	2	3
9	My child feels afraid that (s)he will make a fool of him/herself in front of people	0	1	2	3
10	My child worries that (s)he will do badly at school	0	1	2	3
11	My child worries that something awful will happen to someone in our family	0	1	2	3
12	My child complains of suddenly feeling as if (s)he can’t breathe when there is no reason for this	0	1	2	3
13	My child has to keep checking that (s)he has done things right (like the switch is off, or the door is locked)	0	1	2	3
14	My child is scared if (s)he has to sleep on his/her own	0	1	2	3
15	My child has trouble going to school in the mornings because (s)he feels nervous or afraid	0	1	2	3
16	My child is scared of dogs	0	1	2	3

	Never	Sometime	Often	Always
My child can’t seem to get bad or silly thoughts out of his / her head	0	1	2	3
When my child has a problem, s(he) complains of his/her heart beating really fast	0	1	2	3
My child suddenly starts to tremble or shake when there is no reason for this	0	1	2	3
My child worries that something bad will happen to him/her	0	1	2	3
My child is scared of going to the doctor or dentist	0	1	2	3
When my child has a problem, (s)he feels shaky	0	1	2	3
My child is scared of heights (eg. being at the top of a cliff)	0	1	2	3
My child has to think special thoughts (like numbers or words)to stop bad things from happening	0	1	2	3
My child feels scared if (s)he has to travel in the car, or on a bus or train	0	1	2	3
My child worries what other people think of him/her	0	1	2	3
My child is afraid of being in crowded places (like shopping centres, the movies, buses, busy playgrounds)	0	1	2	3
All of a sudden my child feels really scared for no reason at all	0	1	2	3
My child is scared of insects or spiders	0	1	2	3
My child complains of suddenly becoming dizzy or faint when there is no reason for this	0	1	2	3
My child feels afraid when (s)he has to talk in front of the class	0	1	2	3
My child’s complains of his / her heart suddenly starting to beat too quickly for no reason	0	1	2	3
My child worries that (s)he will suddenly get a scared feeling when there is nothing to be afraid of	0	1	2	3
My child is afraid of being in small closed places, like tunnels or small rooms	0	1	2	3
My child has to do some things over and over again (like washing his / her hands, cleaning or putting things in a certain order)	0	1	2	3
My child gets bothered by bad or silly thoughts or pictures in his/her head	0	1	2	3

	Never	Sometime	Often	Always
My child has to do certain things in just the right way to stop bad things from happening	0	1	2	3
My child would feel scared if (s)he had to stay away from home overnight	0	1	2	3
Is there anything else that your child is really afraid of?

Cite this article

APAMLACHICAGOHARVARDIEEEAMA

Mohammed looti (2025). Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale – Parent (SCAS-Parent). Psychological Scales & Instruments Database. Retrieved from https://db.arabpsychology.com/scales/spence-childrens-anxiety-scale-parent-scas-parent/

Mohammed looti. "Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale – Parent (SCAS-Parent)." Psychological Scales & Instruments Database, 27 Oct. 2025, https://db.arabpsychology.com/scales/spence-childrens-anxiety-scale-parent-scas-parent/.

Mohammed looti. "Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale – Parent (SCAS-Parent)." Psychological Scales & Instruments Database, 2025. https://db.arabpsychology.com/scales/spence-childrens-anxiety-scale-parent-scas-parent/.

Mohammed looti (2025) 'Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale – Parent (SCAS-Parent)', Psychological Scales & Instruments Database. Available at: https://db.arabpsychology.com/scales/spence-childrens-anxiety-scale-parent-scas-parent/.

[1] Mohammed looti, "Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale – Parent (SCAS-Parent)," Psychological Scales & Instruments Database, vol. X, no. Y, ص Z-Z, October, 2025.

Mohammed looti. Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale – Parent (SCAS-Parent). Psychological Scales & Instruments Database. 2025;vol(issue):pages.