Spence Children's Anxiety Scale (SCAS)

Developer: S. Spence

Overview
The Spence Children's Anxiety Scale (SCAS) assesses the severity of anxiety symptoms, broadly
and across six dimensions of anxiety, as proposed by the DSM-IV. School-aged versions are
available for caregivers/parents (e.g., ages 7-9, ages 10-13) and students (e.g., ages 8-11, ages
12-15). The Preschool Anxiety Scale (PAS) is available for children ages 3 through 6 years old
(Parent PAS, Teacher PAS). The scale can be used to evaluate the impact of therapy on anxiety
symptoms in children and adolescents.
Focus Area Purpose
Anxiety Screening/Initial Evaluation
Trauma Progress Monitoring
Reporter Versions
Student Child SCAS, Student, 47 items (for ages 8-15)
Caregiver Parent PAS, Caregiver, 35 items (for ages 3-6)
Educator Parent SCAS, Caregiver, 42 items (for ages 7-
13)
Teacher PAS, Educator, 22 items (for ages 3-6)
Subscales
Obsessive-compulsive Separation anxiety
Social phobia/anxiety Physical injury fears
Panic disorder/agoraphobia* Generalized anxiety
*Only on Child and Parent SCAS
Sample Items
 My child worries that something bad will happen to him/her
 My child can't seem to get bad or silly thoughts out of his/her head
 My child is scared when s(he) has to take a test
 My child is scared of dogs
 My child is scared if s(he) has to sleep on his/her own

Response Options Estimated Completion Time

Never Not true at all Ten minutes
Sometimes Seldom true
Often Sometimes true
Always Quite often true
Very often true
Languages Cost
English Free
Spanish
Other
Access the measures:
Child SCAS
Parent SCAS
Preschool Parent PAS Preschool Teacher PAS

Summary compiled by CSMH (2017) for The SHAPE System (www.theSHAPEsystem.com)

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Scoring
Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale
Parent and Child SCAS Preschool Parent and Teacher PAS
Possible range 0-114; 0-132 0-112; 0-88
Item scores Never (0) to Always (3) Not true at all (0) to Very often true (4)
To use the Parent SCAS for screening To use the Parent PAS for screening
and progress monitoring: and progress monitoring:
 Sum all items to get a Total severity  Sum items 1-28 to get a Total
score severity score
 To sum subscale scores, add the  To sum subscale scores, add the
following items: following items:
 Obsessive compulsive:  Obsessive compulsive:
13,17,24,35,36,37 3,9,18,21,27
 Social Phobia: 6,7,9,10,26,31  Social anxiety: 2,5,11,15,19,23
 Panic attack and agoraphobia:  Separation anxiety:
12,19,25,27,28,30,32,33,34 6,12,16,22,25
 Separation anxiety:  Physical injury fears:
5,8,11,14,15,38 7,10,13,17,20,24,26
 Physical injury fears:  Generalized anxiety: 1,4,8,14,28
2,16,21,23,29  If traumatic exposure is suspected,
 Generalized anxiety: complete items 29-34
1,3,4,18,20,22
 If additional anxiety is suspected,
complete item 39 To use the Teacher PAS for screening
and progress monitoring:
Administration  Sum all items to get a Total severity
& scoring rules To use the Child SCAS for screening score
and progress monitoring:  To sum subscale scores, add the
 Sum all items (except items following items:
11,17,26,31,38,43) to get a Total  Obsessive compulsive:
severity score 3,8,14,17,20
 To sum subscale scores, add the  Social anxiety: 6,9,12,15,19
following items:  Separation anxiety:
 Obsessive compulsive: 1,4,10,13,18,22
14,19,27,40,41,42  Physical injury fears: 7,16
 Social phobia: 6,7,9,10,29,35  Generalized anxiety: 2,5,11,21
 Panic attack and agoraphobia:
13,21,28,30,32,34,36,37,39
 Separation anxiety:
5,8,12,15,16,44
 Physical injury fears:
2,18,23,25,33
Generalized anxiety:
1,3,4,20,22,24
 If additional anxiety is suspected,
complete item 45

Summary compiled by CSMH (2017) for The SHAPE System (www.theSHAPEsystem.com)

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 T-scores are used for interpretation to indicate the severity of the youth’s
symptoms compared to peers in the same age and gender groups. A T-score
of 60 or above indicates the youth may be at elevated risk for developing
significant clinical anxiety. Each respective worksheet offers instructions on
how to turn raw scores into T-scores to allow for standardized interpretation
Parent PAS T-score worksheet:
Parent SCAS T-score worksheets:
Boys and girls (3-6)
Boys (7-9)
Interpretation Boys (10-13)
Teacher PAS: Currently there are no
Girls (7-9)
norms for this measure. Thus, the
Girls (10-13)
primary use for this measure should
be in research or when use does not
Child SCAS T-score worksheets:
require norms. For example, it could
Boys (8-11)
be used for measuring severity
Boys (12-15)
within an individual and monitoring
Girls (8-11)
individual change over time, but not
Girls (12-15)
compared to peers.

Additional administration and scoring instruction from the SCAS developer

Access all versions (including other languages) of the SCAS and PAS

Summary compiled by CSMH (2017) for The SHAPE System (www.theSHAPEsystem.com)

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