Factor structure and psychometric properties of the Multidimensional Anxiety Scale for Children in an African American adolescent sample

Child Psychiatry Hum Dev. 2009 Jun;40(2):287-300. doi: 10.1007/s10578-009-0126-0. Epub 2009 Jan 23.

Abstract

The current study examined the psychometric properties and factor structure of the Multidimensional Anxiety Scale for Children (MASC) among a community sample of 118 African American students (58 females; ages 14-19 years; mean age = 15.79) in an urban, parochial high school. Adolescents completed the MASC and several other self-report measures of anxiety, perceived competence, and symptoms of ADHD. The original MASC total and subscale mean scores were comparable to data reported in previous studies utilizing community samples of youth, though measures of internal consistency were lower. Factor analytic results supported a three factor solution (i.e., social anxiety, physical symptoms, harm avoidance) which accounted for 23.84% of the variance. While there was overlap in the underlying structure of anxiety between the original MASC publication and the current sample, items reflecting separation anxiety did not emerge as a separate factor. As expected, the MASC total score was positively correlated with measures of anxiety and perceived competence but unrelated to measures of hyperactivity. This study represents an important first step toward establishing more comprehensive age, race, and gender norms for the MASC.

Publication types

  • Validation Study

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Anxiety Disorders / diagnosis*
  • Black or African American / psychology*
  • Factor Analysis, Statistical
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Psychological Tests*
  • Psychometrics
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • United States
  • Urban Population