Spence Preschool Anxiety Scale (Teacher Version)

Abstract

The Spence Preschool Anxiety Scale (Teacher Version) is a specialized, informant-rated psychological instrument designed for the early assessment and screening of anxiety symptoms in very young children. Adapted from the foundational Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale (SCAS), this version is specifically tailored for use by teachers or daycare staff. Its primary utility lies in capturing observable behaviors indicative of common childhood Anxiety Disorders as they manifest within the structured school or daycare environment, offering a crucial non-parental perspective.

The scale is structured around a robust five-factor model, measuring distinct anxiety subscales: Separation Anxiety, Physical Injury Fears, Social Anxiety, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), and Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD). This tool is essential for clinical practitioners and researchers aiming for the early identification and subsequent intervention planning for anxiety in preschoolers.

Keywords

Spence Preschool Anxiety Scale, SCAS, early childhood assessment, teacher rating, Separation Anxiety, Social Anxiety, Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), preschool anxiety.

Authors

Susan H. Spence, Ronald Rapee, Caroline McDonald, Michelle Ingram.

Purpose

The principal objective of the Spence Preschool Anxiety Scale (Teacher Version) is to facilitate the timely identification and systematic screening of anxiety-related symptoms in young children, typically those aged between three and five years. By relying on teacher observations, the scale provides a necessary and distinct assessment of how anxiety symptoms present in a structured, non-familial setting, which often differs significantly from parental reports of internalizing distress.

The scale serves as an invaluable resource for researchers investigating the prevalence, etiology, and developmental trajectory of Anxiety Disorders during early childhood. Furthermore, it is a practical instrument for clinicians who require multi-informant data to plan effective early intervention strategies. This teacher version complements other forms of the Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale, thereby enabling comprehensive, multi-dimensional assessment of childhood anxiety.

Construct

The scale is constructed to measure symptoms across five core anxiety domains, which are empirically derived and align closely with the established symptom clusters found in diagnostic manuals for several common childhood Anxiety Disorders. These domains effectively capture the diverse behavioral and cognitive presentations of anxiety in preschoolers.

The five measured domains are:

• Separation Anxiety: Measures symptoms related to excessive distress, worry, or reluctance when anticipating or experiencing separation from primary attachment figures (e.g., parents).

• Physical Injury Fears: Measures specific phobia symptoms focused on intense fears of bodily harm, physical injury, or necessary medical procedures.

• Social Anxiety (Social Phobia): Measures symptoms reflecting fear, avoidance, or significant distress in social or performance situations, such as interacting with unfamiliar peers or speaking in front of a group.

• Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD): Measures symptoms related to the presence of intrusive, unwanted, and distressing thoughts (obsessions) and the subsequent need to engage in repetitive behaviors or mental acts (compulsions) to reduce perceived threat.

• Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD): Measures symptoms indicating persistent, excessive, and often uncontrollable worry across multiple life domains, such as future events, school performance, or minor daily routines.

Validity

The Spence Preschool Anxiety Scale demonstrates strong evidence of both construct and concurrent validity, which are crucial Psychometric Properties required for any reliable clinical assessment tool. Construct validity is supported by the scale’s clear and empirically derived five-factor structure, which maps precisely onto established diagnostic categories for childhood anxiety. This confirmation ensures that the scale items accurately measure the intended theoretical constructs rather than general distress.

Concurrent validity has been robustly established through correlational studies demonstrating high positive relationships between the scale scores and other independent measures of child anxiety. These external measures include structured clinical interviews and reports provided by other informants, such particularly parents. High scores obtained on the Teacher Version reliably correspond with greater clinician-rated symptom severity, affirming its utility as a valid screening instrument.

Reliability

The scale exhibits high levels of internal consistency, a measure of reliability indicating that items within a subscale are homogeneous and measure the same underlying trait. This consistency, typically quantified using Cronbach’s alpha, is consistently strong across the total anxiety score and its five subscales, across various samples of young children.

Furthermore, reliability studies conducted within the broader SCAS framework, which encompasses this preschool version, frequently report good test-retest reliability over short intervals. This stability suggests that teacher ratings of anxiety symptoms are consistent over time, making the instrument a trustworthy and dependable measure for both cross-sectional clinical assessment and the longitudinal monitoring of treatment outcomes in preschoolers.

Factor Analysis

The rigorous development and validation of the Spence Preschool Anxiety Scale were fundamentally supported by advanced factor analytic research. The foundational studies, led by Spence and colleagues (2001), employed Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) to statistically test the hypothesized structural model. This model was carefully derived from the diagnostic criteria outlined in the DSM for specific anxiety disorders in children.

The CFA confirmed a robust five-factor structure, which successfully differentiates between the distinct anxiety subtypes measured by the scale: Separation Anxiety, Social Anxiety, Physical Injury Fears, OCD, and GAD. This empirically validated, multi-dimensional structure is critical, as it ensures the scale provides clinically meaningful information that moves beyond a simplistic, single global anxiety score, thereby aiding in differential diagnosis.

Instrument

Test Type: Screening and assessment instrument (Informant-rated)

Format: 22 items rated on a 5-point Likert scale (0 to 4).

Language Available: English (Numerous translations are available for the broader SCAS instrument family, which may include the preschool version).

Population Group: Children

Age Group: Preschool age (typically 2.5 to 6 years)

Population Details: This instrument is suitable for use by teachers or daycare providers in community, school, and clinical settings to assess the frequency and severity of anxiety symptoms in young children.

Test Methodology: Teachers or daycare staff rate the frequency of observed anxiety behaviors over a specified period using the provided 5-point severity scale:

• 0 = Not True at All

• 1 = Seldom True

• 2 = Sometimes True

• 3 = Quite Often True

• 4 = Very Often True

The instrument can be found at: http://www.scaswebsite.com/1_1_.html

Keywords

psychological assessment, early intervention, symptom severity, Psychometric Properties, Confirmatory Factor Analysis, teacher report, childhood mental health, childhood anxiety, multi-informant assessment.

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not specified in source materials.

Affiliation Email addresses: Refer to primary publication (Spence et al., 2001) for current contact details.

Correspondence Address: Refer to primary publication (Spence et al., 2001) for official correspondence details.

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The Spence Preschool Anxiety Scale is generally available for non-commercial academic and clinical research use. However, formal permissions for reproduction or integration into clinical practice should be sought directly from the primary author, Susan H. Spence, or through the official SCAS website. The foundational research supporting the structure and validation of the preschool version was published in 2001.

Reference’s

• Spence, S.H., Rapee, R., McDonald, C., & Ingram, M. (2001). The structure of anxiety symptoms among preschoolers. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 39, 1293 – 1316.

• Spence. S.H., (1997). Structure of Anxiety Symptoms Among Children: A Confirmatory Factor-Analytic Study. J Abnorm Psych 106(2): 280-297.

• Spence. S.H, Barrett. P.M, Turner. C.M. (2003). Psychometric Properties of the Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale with Young Adolescents. J Anxiety Disord 17(6): 605-625.

Items of the Spence Preschool Anxiety Scale (Teacher Version)

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

1. Repeatedly asks about parent(s) during the day
2. Has difficulty stopping him/herself from worrying
3. Keeps checking that he/she has done things right (e.g.‚ that he/she closed a door‚ turned off a tap)
4. Complains of headaches or stomachaches when it is time to be dr‎opped off at preschool/school
5. Is tense‚ restless or irritable due to worrying.
6. Is scared to ask an adult for help (e.g.‚ a preschool or school teacher).
7. Is scared of heights (high places)
8. Washes his/her hands over and over many times each day
9. Is afraid of meeting or talking to unfamiliar people
10. Worries that something bad will happen to his/her parents
11. Spends a large part of each day worrying about various things
12. Is afraid of talking in front of the class (preschool group) e.g.‚ show and tell
13. Worries that something bad might happen to him/her (e.g.‚ getting lost or kidnapped)‚ so he/she won’t be able to see his/her parents again..
14. Has to have things in exactly the right order or position to stop bad things from happening
15. Worries that he/she will do something embarrassing in front of other people
16. Is afraid of insects and/or spiders
17. Has bad or silly thoughts or images that keep coming back over and over
18. Becomes distressed when he/she is dr‎opped off at preschool/school
19. Is afraid to go up to a group of children and join their activities..
20. Has to keep thinking special thoughts (e.g.‚ numbers or words) to stop bad things from happening.
21. Asks for reassurance when it doesn’t seem necessary
22. Cries for parent whilst at preschool/school..