Abstract
This report describes the feasibility and psychometric properties of the child version of the Separation Anxiety Daily Diary (SADD-C) in 125 children (ages 7- 14 years) from German-speaking areas of Switzerland. Children with separation anxiety disorder (SAD; n = 58), "other'' anxiety disorders (n = 36), and healthy controls (n = 31) recorded the frequency of parent-child separations, along with associated anxiety, thoughts, reactions and subsequent parental responses. Compliance rates were modest, consistent with past research on self-report diaries with anxious children. The SADD-C was better at discriminating children with SAD from controls than "other anxious'' children. The SADD-C demonstrated good convergent validity with maternal and child selfreported anxiety (Revised Child Manifest Anxiety Scale, Separation Anxiety Inventory) and perceived quality of life (Inventory for Quality of Life in Children and Adolescents). Results provide support for the SADD-C as an acceptable and valid method of assessing child symptoms and parent behavior on separation. Findings are discussed with regard to the clinical utility of the SADD-C and strategies to improve compliance.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 649-662 |
Number of pages | 14 |
Journal | Child Psychiatry and Human Development |
Volume | 41 |
Issue number | 6 |
Early online date | 8 Jul 2010 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Dec 2010 |
Funding
Acknowledgments This study was supported by grant PP001-68701; 105314-116517/1, ‘‘Etiology and Psychological Treatment of Separation Anxiety Disorder in Childhood,’’ awarded to Silvia Schneider by the Swiss National Science Foundation. We appreciate the participants in this study, as well as the research assistants and graduate students on the TAFF project at the University of Basel for their assistance in data collection and management. The authors would like to acknowledge the assistance of Prof. Dr. Hans Christoph Steinhausen (Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Zürich). We also thank Dr. Andrea Meyer and Terry Lewin for their assistance with the statistical analyses.
Keywords
- Assessment
- Children
- Diaries
- Self-monitoring
- Separation anxiety disorder
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Pediatrics, Perinatology, and Child Health
- Developmental and Educational Psychology
- Psychiatry and Mental health