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Background: Nighttime fears are highly prevalent in children, ranging from normative fears to triggering fear-related anxiety disorders. The lack of available assessment instruments recently prompted the development of the Nighttime Fears Scale (NFS) for children aged 8-12 years. The present study aimed to adapt and psychometrically evaluate the parent-reported version for children aged 3-8 years (NFS-P) as a complement for younger children., Methods: Two hundred eighty-four Spanish-speaking parents (47% girls) completed the NFS-P and anxiety measures., Results: Confirmatory factor analyses supported a four-factor structure of the NFS-P. Strong internal consistency and validity evidence were obtained. No significant differences were found in NFS-P scores between sexes and age groups., Conclusions: The findings offer support for the use of the NFS-P as a valuable instrument in clinical and research settings, supplementing the NFS for older children. Both scales provide an efficient means to comprehensively assess the presence and intensity of typical nighttime fears across preschool and school years., (© 2024 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

During adolescence, the difficulty to control impulses is especially notable. The Brief Self-Control Scale has been used in different countries for years to study associations between self-control and other variables. However, its factor structure is not completely clear, and it is necessary to have a scale with psychometric assurances that evaluates self-control in adolescents. The aim of this study was to examine the factorial structure of the Brief Self-Control Scale and to provide evidences of reliability, validity, and factor invariance across gender and age in a sample of Spanish adolescents. Participants were 693 adolescents from Southeastern Spain, aged 13 to 18 years. Data supported an excellent fit to a two-dimensional model and evidences of reliability, validity and factor invariance across gender and age were obtained. This study provides new data on the two-dimensionality of self-control. The need of this tool becomes increasingly relevant to the susceptibility of new emerging addictions, such as mobile phones or internet.

The parent version of the Short Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (SMFQ-P) is a brief 13-item tool for the screening of depression in children from the age of 6 years. Despite the wide use of the SMFQ-P, its psychometric properties and factor structure remain understudied, with few data available for young school-aged children. The objective of this study was to examine for the first time the factorial structure and psychometric properties of the SMFQ-P in a non-clinical sample of Spanish-speaking children aged 6-8 years. Participants were 181 children whose parents completed the Spanish-adapted version of the SMFQ-P along with the parent version of other measures of anxiety and general difficulties and positive attributes. The SMFQ-P demonstrated adequate internal consistency (α = .83) and test-retest reliability over an eight-week period (ICC = .80), and good convergent and divergent validity. Factor analysis confirmed the original 13-item model, thus supporting the unidimensionality of the measure in the Spanish sample. Overall, this study provides initial empirical evidence for the utility of the SMFQ-P with Spanish-speaking children from early school ages, and extends the international support of the measure.

The Spence Children's Anxiety Scale (SCAS) has demonstrated good psychometric properties in several countries and cultures. Nevertheless, most of the previous studies that explore these properties have combined clinical and community samples. We aimed to validate the Spanish version of the SCAS in a large clinical sample (N = 130) of children and adolescents. The Spanish adaptation of the SCAS showed good internal consistency for the total scale, and good test-retest reliability for all the subscales. Furthermore, its convergent and discriminant validity were supported by significant correlations with other anxiety questionnaires (Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders [SCARED], Youth Self-Report [YSR] subscales for anxiety disorders and internalizing symptomatology), and lower or non-significant correlations with depression symptoms and externalizing symptoms scales respectively. For the first time in a purely clinical sample, the original factor structure of the SCAS based on six correlated factors was confirmed. Future studies need to evaluate whether the factorial structure of the present instrument is the most suitable for use in clinical populations.

Self-consciousness development takes place mainly in adolescence because the brain undergoes certain structural changes that facilitate abstract thinking and metacognition, thus favoring the development of identity. Despite the importance of self-consciousness for mental health, there are no specific measurement instruments for Spanish adolescents. The objective of this study was to explore the dimensions of self-consciousness among Spanish adolescents aged between 13 and 18 years and validate the Chinese Adolescent Self-Consciousness Questionnaire (ASC) in this population. A second-order confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted in accordance with previous validations of the ASC, using R Studio and the Lavaan package, to test its adequacy in a Spanish sample. Internal consistency and temporal stability were also tested, and evidence of validity was found. The results showed a good fit to the model eliminating four items with poor fit indices, CFI = .90, TLI = .89, RMSEA = .078, 95% CI [.076, .080]. Higher self-consciousness was associated with greater self-esteem and lower depressive symptomatology. No significant gender differences were found. This study provides a valid measure to evaluate self-consciousness in Spanish adolescents. The relationship established between self-consciousness and anxiety and depression requires further study as self-consciousness is involved in the development and maintenance of adolescent psychopathology.

Although Spence Children's Anxiety Scale (SCAS) is a widely used anxiety measure in many countries around the world, until now, research has barely focused on the usefulness of the parent version (SCAS-P) in young children. This study examines the psychometric properties and the factor structure of the SCAS-P in a Spanish community sample of 181 children aged 6-8 years ( M  = 6.87, SD  = 0.78). Confirmatory factor analysis showed a good fit of the original six-factor model to the Spanish sample. The internal consistency and the test-retest reliability of the scale were high. Regarding the validity of this measure, higher and significant correlations between the SCAS-P and internalizing problems and lower correlations with externalizing problems were obtained, as found in the original version. Girls seemed to show more anxiety problems than boys, but no significant differences were found. The results suggest that the SCAS-P is an adequate measure to assess anxious symptomatology in young children. The availability of measures with good psychometric properties allows psychologists to assess and carry out a correct and early diagnosis of anxiety disorders in children, making possible an early clinical intervention.

This study aimed to validate a short version of the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire for Spanish kids (CERQ-Sk) based on the 18-item version available for adults. A sample of 654 children aged 7-12 years completed the CERQ-Sk and tests for depression and anxiety measures. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the 18-item version and the original nine-factor structure, which includes self-blame, acceptance, rumination, positive refocusing, refocus on planning, positive reappraisal, putting into perspective, catastrophizing, and other-blame (comparative fit index = .99, Tucker-Lewis index = .98, root mean square error of approximation = .02). Internal consistency was adequate (ordinal α = .80), and the eight-week stability of this version was moderate (intraclass correlation = .69). Criterion validity was supported by correlations among self-blame, rumination, and catastrophizing (positive) and among positive reappraisal and depression and anxiety symptoms (negative). Results suggest that the short version of the CERQ-Sk is a valid and reliable instrument for assessing these cognitive emotion regulation strategies during the middle childhood developmental period. Clinicians and researchers will benefit from this briefer acceptable version when time is not available for the 36-item version. This study offers preliminary results for the first short version of the CERQ for children.

Background: The Preschool Anxiety Scale (PAS) is a 28-item measure designed to assess anxiety symptoms in preschoolers aged 31 to 83 months., Methods: The present study aims to extend the literature by examining the psychometric properties and factorial structure of the PAS in a Spanish community sample of 274 preschoolers aged 3 to 7 years., Results: Factor analysis confirmed the five-factor original model after removing eight items, suggesting a shorter 20-item version for the Spanish preschoolers. The scale demonstrated to have good internal consistency (Cronbach's α = 0.84). Moderate but significant correlations with a measure of health-related quality of life supported the convergent validity of the PAS., Conclusions: The Spanish version of the PAS demonstrated to have good psychometric properties, providing these results initial support to its use for assessing a broad range of anxiety symptoms in Spanish-speaking preschoolers., (© 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Background: The Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire for children (CERQ-k) is a useful clinical and research tool to identify cognitive patterns of emotion regulation that predict the presence of emotional symptomatology. This study aimed to validate the Spanish version of the CERQ-k (the CERQ-Sk) using a sample of children from Spain, which is not available., Methods: The sample consisted of 582 children (48.6% girls) aged between 7 and 12 years (Mage = 9.49; SD = 1.2) recruited from Alicante, Spain. Cognitive emotion regulation strategies, anxiety and depressive symptomatology were self-reported evaluated. Factor structure, internal consistency, temporal stability with the Spanish version for children were examined. Convergent validity was evaluated using Spearman correlations to examine the relationships between the CERQ-k and measures of anxiety (trait anxiety subscale of STAI-C) and depression (CDI)., Results: The Spanish version of CERQ-Sk had the same nine factors proposed in the original version. Ordinal alpha of the total scale was excellent (.88), and moderate indexes were found for each subscale (.56 to .75). The 8-week test-retest coefficient was adequate for the total scale (ICC = .74) and moderate for the subscales (.54 to .70). Evidence of convergent validity was provided through correlations with the CDI (depression) and trait anxiety subscale of the STAI-C (anxiety). Cognitive strategies such as Rumination, self-blame, catastrophizing, and other-blame were significantly and positively related to depressive and anxiety symptoms. Moreover, positive refocusing and planning seemed to act as strategies that have a positive effect on the prevention of depression in children., Conclusions: Results suggest that the CERQ-Sk is a reliable and valid tool that can be useful for researchers and clinicians to identify maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation patterns that may increase the risk of emotional problems, and orient treatment and prevention of mental health problems in children from Spanish-speaking countries., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Inconsistent condom use in young people is related to the perceived barriers to their use. The psychometric properties and factor structure of the new Condom Use Barriers Scale for Adolescents (CUBS-A) are analyzed. Concurrent validity was assessed by the Attitude towards condom use subscale of the validated HIV-AS test and the percentage of condom use variable. A total of 629 Spanish adolescents whose mean age was 15.17 (SD = 1.09; 51.5% boys) participated. Exploratory factor analysis supported a 15-item instrument with four factors: negotiation skills, perceived feelings, negative aspects of condoms, and disruption of the sexual experience, which explained 41.89% of the total variance (KMO = .84; χ2 = 1071.93; p < .001). The results show high internal consistency (α = .86) and a good fit of the data to the model (NNFI = .93; CFI = .95; IFI = .95; RMSEA = .04). Its total score and most of its factors show acceptable correlation with the percentage of condom use, values that support the criterial validity (p ≤ .05). Gender differences were found in most subscales (p ≤ .001). The CUBS-A is a valid and reliable new instrument for assessing perceived barriers in adolescents for using condoms to protect themselves during sexual intercourse.

This study describes the psychometric properties of the Children's Separation Anxiety Scale (CSAS), which assesses separation anxiety symptoms in childhood. Participants in Study 1 were 1,908 schoolchildren aged between 8 and 11. Exploratory factor analysis identified four factors: worry about separation, distress from separation, opposition to separation, and calm at separation, which explained 46.91% of the variance. In Study 2, 6,016 children aged 8-11 participated. The factor model in Study 1 was validated by confirmatory factor analysis. The internal consistency (α = 0.82) and temporal stability (r = 0.83) of the instrument were good. The convergent and discriminant validity were evaluated by means of correlations with other measures of separation anxiety, childhood anxiety, depression and anger. Sensitivity of the scale was 85% and its specificity, 95%. The results support the reliability and validity of the CSAS.

Background: The Children's Somatization Inventory (CSI) has proved to be a suitable measure to assess somatic symptoms in pediatric patients, but additional research was needed to evaluate its psychometric properties in community populations., Purpose: The objective of the present study was to examine psychometric properties and factorial structure of the instrument among a nonclinical sample of Spanish children., Method: The 24-item version of the CSI and two self-report measures of anxiety and depression were administered to 1,111 Spanish children aged 8 to 12., Results: Exploratory analysis suggested a factorial structure composed of three factors: pseudoneurologic symptoms, gastrointestinal symptoms, and pain. Due to confirmatory analysis indicating a poor fit for the three-factor model, two alternative models were tested. A six-item single factor identified in a previous study with an American community sample showed the best fit (RMSEA = 0.04; GFI = 0.99; AGFI = 0.98; CFI = 0.98; χ(2)/gl = 2.71). The internal consistency for the six-item version was acceptable (ω = .71), and the construct validity with anxiety (r = .53) and depression (r = .38) measures was adequate., Conclusion: The six-item version of the CSI demonstrated to be a reliable measure for assessing somatization symptoms in Spanish children.

Background The Sleep Self-Report (SSR) is a questionnaire initially created for use with a sample from the USA to assess sleep patterns and problems in school-aged children. The objective of this study was to validate the SSR among a Spanish sample. Methods Participants were 1228 Spanish children from 8 to 12 years of age who completed the questionnaires at school anonymously. Results Internal consistency was good ( ω= 0.85). Convergent validity with anxiety ( r= 0.54) and perceived welfare ( r=−0.53) measures, and divergent validity with a measure of academic performance and positive influence of peers ( r=−0.22) were acceptable. Exploratory analysis suggested a factorial structure composed by four subscales: sleep quality, sleep anxiety, bedtime refusal and sleep routines. Confirmatory analysis indicated a good fit for the model (RMSEA = 0.04; GFI = 0.95; AGFI = 0.93; χ2/gl = 2.48). Conclusions The SSR has demonstrated to have good psychometric properties in the Spanish-speaking sample of children. The factorial structure supported by exploratory and confirmatory analysis examines the most relevant areas of sleep in children. The satisfactory psychometric properties support the use of the Spanish version of the SSR by researchers and clinicians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]