Propriétés psychométriques de l'adaptation francophone d'une mesure de symptômes des troubles anxieux auprès d'enfants et d'adolescents (SCARED-R)

Anxiety disorders are very prevalent among children and adolescents and increase risk for comorbid diagnoses, psychopathology in adulthood and lower adaptive functioning in the areas of academic performance, peer relations and family interactions. Even if anxiety disorders are the principal psychopathologies present among children, there are few valid questionnaires available to assess all DSM–IV-specific anxiety disorder symptoms. Available French measures assess mainly anxiety symptoms and present poor discriminant validity among specific disorders. The aim of the present study was to translate and verify the psychometric properties of a French version of the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders–Revised (SCARED-R; Muris et al., 2004) among children from ages 8 to 15 years. French-Canadian children (N 380) participated. Factorial, convergent and criteria validity, as well as reliability indices (e.g., internal consistency), were evaluated. Results showed that the psychometric properties of the questionnaire were adequate and superior to those of the English version. Only the obsessive–compulsive symptom subscale presents poorer psychometric properties. Overall, this French version of the SCARED-R, which include 51 items, seems to be a valid tool to assess anxiety disorder symptoms among children and adolescents.