SCARED-P: Screen for Child Anxiety Related Disorders – Parent Version

About the SCARED-P

The Screen for Child Anxiety Related Disorders – Parent Version (SCARED-P) is the caregiver-completed companion to the child self-report SCARED. Developed by Boris Birmaher and colleagues at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, both versions were published together in 1997 and revised in 1999.

The SCARED-P enables multi-informant assessment of childhood anxiety, a clinically important feature given that children and parents frequently differ in their reports of anxiety symptoms. Parent-report measures capture externally observable indicators of anxiety (avoidance behaviors, physical complaints, reassurance seeking) that children may minimize or lack awareness of, while child self-report better captures subjective distress and internal symptoms.

What the SCARED-P Measures

The SCARED-P contains 41 items parallel to the child SCARED, assessing five anxiety disorder subscales as defined in DSM-IV (and broadly applicable to DSM-5-TR criteria):

Items are rated on a 0–2 scale:

• 0, Not true or hardly ever true
• 1, Somewhat true or sometimes true
• 2, Very true or often true

Scoring

Total score range: 0–82

Recommended cutoffs (Birmaher et al., 1997, 1999):

Subscale cutoffs (combined child + parent version literature):

• Panic/Somatic: ≥7
• Generalized Anxiety: ≥9
• Separation Anxiety: ≥5
• Social Anxiety: ≥8
• School Avoidance: ≥3

Multi-Informant Interpretation

Parent and child scores frequently diverge. Clinical guidelines recommend:

• When both parent and child scores exceed cutoffs, probability of an anxiety disorder diagnosis is higher
• Discrepancies may reflect different domains of symptom expression rather than measurement error
• Parent over-endorsement may indicate parental anxiety affecting perception; child under-endorsement may reflect poor insight or shame
• Combined interpretation is more informative than either source alone

Psychometric Properties

The SCARED-P demonstrates strong psychometric properties:

• Good internal consistency (Cronbach's α ≈ 0.82–0.90 for total score)
• Five-factor structure confirmed across cultures
• Moderate parent-child agreement (r ≈ 0.20–0.40), consistent with multi-informant literature
• Discriminant validity: differentiates anxiety disorders from depression and ADHD
• Validated in early childhood samples (Scoberg et al., 2024) and cross-culturally (Tangjittiporn et al., 2022)

Clinical Applications

The SCARED-P is used for:

• Initial anxiety screening when child self-report is limited by age, cognitive ability, or motivation
• Multi-informant assessment as part of a comprehensive diagnostic evaluation
• Treatment monitoring: Parent-report sensitive to behavioral change over the course of therapy
• Early childhood assessment: Particularly valuable for children under 8 where self-report validity is limited

References

• Birmaher B, Khetarpal S, Brent D, et al. (1997). The Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED): Scale construction and psychometric characteristics. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 36(4), 545–553.
• Birmaher B, Brent DA, Chiappetta L, et al. (1999). Psychometric properties of the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED): A replication study. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 38(10), 1230–1236.
• Scoberg B, Hobson C, van Goozen S. (2024). Psychometric Properties and Validity of the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders: Parent Version (SCARED-P) in an Early Childhood Sample. Assessment, 31(7), 1596–1606. PMID: 38258550
• Tangjittiporn T, Sottimanon A, Ularntinon S. (2022). Psychometric properties of the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Disorders Thai version. Pediatrics International, 64(1), e15177. PMID: 34897896