SCARED-P: Screen for Child Anxiety Related Disorders, Parent Version
The SCARED-P (Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders, Parent Version) is a 41-item parent-report questionnaire that screens for anxiety disorder symptoms in children and adolescents as observed by caregivers. It parallels the child self-report SCARED, and the two are used together for multi-informant anxiety assessment.
SCARED-P Score Interpreter
Possible anxiety disorder; a full clinical evaluation is recommended.
41 items rated 0–2 by a parent or caregiver; total 0–82. Subscale scores can show which type of anxiety is most prominent.
| Total score | Interpretation |
|---|---|
| 25+ | At or above cutoff (≥25)Possible anxiety disorder; a full clinical evaluation is recommended. |
| 0–24 | Below cutoff (<25)Below the conventional screening threshold. Does not rule out an anxiety disorder; consider the child's own report. |
Birmaher B et al. (1997, 1999). J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. Conventional total-score cutoff of 25 or greater (see also Trafalis et al., 2021). Educational reference only — not a diagnostic tool.
For reference only — not an assessment, diagnosis, or medical advice. This page provides scoring reference material; interpretation and clinical decisions rest with a qualified clinician.
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 behaviours, 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):
| Subscale | Items | Corresponding Disorder |
|---|---|---|
| Somatic/Panic | 13 | Panic Disorder / Somatic Anxiety |
| Generalized Anxiety | 9 | Generalized Anxiety Disorder |
| Separation Anxiety | 8 | Separation Anxiety Disorder |
| Social Anxiety | 7 | Social Anxiety Disorder |
| School Avoidance | 4 | School Refusal |
Item counts per subscale follow Scoberg et al. (2024).
How to administer the SCARED-P
A parent or caregiver completes the SCARED-P, rating each of the 41 items for how true it has been of the child over the past 3 months. It is designed to be given alongside the child self-report SCARED so the two informants can be compared. 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
SCARED-P scoring and interpretation
Total score range: 0–82
Recommended cutoff: a total of 25 or higher is the conventional screening threshold (Birmaher et al., 1999; Trafalis et al., 2021). Use the score interpreter above to check a total against it.
| Score | Interpretation |
|---|---|
| <25 | Below clinical threshold |
| ≥25 | Possible anxiety disorder; further evaluation recommended |
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
- Development (Birmaher et al., 1997): In 341 outpatient children and adolescents and 300 parents, both the child and parent SCARED yielded five factors, with good internal consistency (alpha .74 to .93), test-retest reliability (ICC .70 to .90), discriminative validity, and moderate parent-child agreement (r = .20 to .47).
- Replication (Birmaher et al., 1999): In a new sample of 190 outpatient youth and 166 parents, the 41-item version showed five factors (panic/somatic, generalized anxiety, separation anxiety, social phobia, school phobia), with good internal consistency and discriminant validity for the total and factor scores of both the child and parent forms.
- Early childhood (Scoberg et al., 2024): In parents of 233 children aged mainly 4–7, internal consistency was good to excellent (total alpha .94, subscales .68–.89) with good construct validity, though support for the five-factor model was mixed.
- Thailand (Tangjittiporn et al., 2022): In 108 clinic-attending youth aged 9–16 and their parents, the parent form had a Cronbach's alpha of 0.925; at an optimal cut-off of 23 it had a sensitivity of 0.74 and a specificity of 0.67.
Limitations
- Screening, not diagnosis. An elevated score indicates that a full diagnostic evaluation is warranted; it does not establish an anxiety disorder.
- Informant perspective. Parent ratings capture observable signs and can be influenced by the parent's own anxiety; parent and child reports often diverge.
- Cutoffs vary by sample. Optimal thresholds differ across settings and languages (for example, 23 in a Thai clinical sample).
- Younger children. The SCARED-P was developed for middle childhood and adolescence; evidence in children aged 4–7 is promising but preliminary.
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 behavioural change over the course of therapy
- Early childhood assessment: Particularly valuable for children under 8 where self-report validity is limited
This library is an academic and clinical reference. A scale described here is not necessarily offered in HiBoop; each page says whether it is.
Bill this assessment
In the US, the SCARED-P: Screen for Child Anxiety Related Disorders, Parent Version is usually billed under these CPT codes. Payer rules vary.
Using this assessment in practice
For clinicians
Send it as a gentle check-in before the session. The score is waiting when you open the chart, and the trend builds itself.
For individuals
This page is a clinical reference, not a diagnostic tool. If you have concerns about your own symptoms, bring this information to a qualified mental health professional.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does a SCARED-P score of 25 or higher indicate?
A total score of 25 or above on the parent version is the recommended screening threshold, indicating a possible anxiety disorder that warrants further clinical evaluation. This cutoff was established in the original 1997 Birmaher validation study and replicated in 1999. Scores at or above this threshold do not confirm a diagnosis on their own.
Is the SCARED-P completed by the parent or the child?
The SCARED-P is a parent-report measure completed by a caregiver, not the child. It is designed to run in parallel with the child self-report SCARED, enabling multi-informant assessment. Using both versions together provides a more complete picture of the child's anxiety across settings.
References
- 1.Birmaher B, Khetarpal S, Brent D, Cully M, Balach L, Kaufman J, Neer SM. The Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED): scale construction and psychometric characteristics. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 1997;36(4):545-553.View source
- 2.Birmaher B, Brent DA, Chiappetta L, Bridge J, Monga S, Baugher M. Psychometric properties of the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED): a replication study. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 1999;38(10):1230-1236.View source
- 3.Scoberg B, Hobson C, van Goozen S. Psychometric Properties and Validity of the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders: Parent Version (SCARED-P) in an Early Childhood Sample. Assessment. 2024;31(7):1442-1451.View source
- 4.Tangjittiporn T, Sottimanon A, Ularntinon S. Psychometric properties of the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Disorders Thai version. Pediatr Int. 2022;64(1):e15093.View source
- 5.Trafalis S, Giannini C, Joves J, Portera S, Toyama H, Mehta A, Basile K, Friedberg RD. A pediatrician-friendly review of three common behavioral health screeners in pediatric practice: Findings and recommendations. Pediatr Investig. 2021;5(1):58-64.View source
Last reviewed: Jun 3, 2026
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