SCARED (parent)
ValidatedScreen for Child Anxiety Related Disorders – Parent Version (SCARED)
8 – 18 yearsParent~10 min41 questions
Below is a list of sentences that describe how people feel. Read each phrase and decide if it is "Not True or Hardly Ever True" or "Somewhat True or Sometimes True" or "Very True or Often True" for your child. Then, for each statement, check the box that corresponds to the response that seems to describe your child for the last 3 months. Please respond to all statements as well as you can, even if some do not seem to concern your child.
Report details · optional
Shown on the report and stored with the screening record. Use initials or a code, not full names.
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About this screener — evidence, source, alternatives
The parent-completed SCARED: the same 41 statements as the child form, worded about the child and rated over the last 3 months. Gives a total anxiety score plus five DSM-linked subscales. Use alongside the child form where possible.
Evidence · validated
In 190 outpatient children and adolescents and 166 parents, the 41-item SCARED total and its five factors (panic/somatic, generalized anxiety, separation anxiety, social phobia, school phobia) showed good internal consistency and discriminant validity, both between anxiety and depressive/disruptive disorders and within anxiety disorders (Birmaher et al., 1999). The total cut-off of 25 and subscale cut-offs are those on the official scoring sheet.
Free alternative to
- Multidimensional Anxiety Scale for Children, 2nd ed. (MASC-2) · MHS
Paid child anxiety inventory with a parent form; the SCARED parent version is the free alternative.
Source & licence
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. Developed by Boris Birmaher, Suneeta Khetarpal, Marlane Cully, David Brent and Sandra McKenzie, Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, University of Pittsburgh (1995).
Licence: Free — the official form states the SCARED is available at no cost from the University of Pittsburgh (pediatricbipolar.pitt.edu)
Transcribed from the official parent form dated January 19, 2018 (SCAREDParentVersion_1.19.18.pdf) and checked against the 2023 reprint. Reproduce without modification and credit the authors.
Official source ↗