Multidimensional Anxiety Scale for Children

3 min read

Beskrivning #

Multidimensional Anxiety Scale for Children, MASC (March et al., 1997) används för att mäta ett flertal ångestsymtom hos barn. March et al. (1997) anser att MASC har mycket god intern konsistens, bra test-retest reliabilitet och god validitet. I denna undersökning används en kortversion av MASC som består av 10 item. Påståendena skattas på en fyragradig skala där 0 = aldrig sant om mig, 1 = sällan sant om mig, 2 = ibland sant om mig, 3 = ofta sant om mig. Summan kan variera mellan 0-40 poäng. Om barnet skattar över 20 poäng tyder detta på att det har en ångestproblematik. 30 poäng eller högre betyder mycket hög ångestnivå hos barnet.

OBS! MASC finns också i en uppdaterad version och kallas då MASC2.

Antal items #

39 (MASC1) respektive 50 (MASC2)

Diagnos #

Thus scores of 48 for boys and 56 for girls could be used if the MASC total score is used as a general screen for anxiety. Likewise, scores of 14 for boys and 18 for girls could be used regarding subscale MASC Physical symptoms and of Social anxiety, while scores of 20 and 21 respectively for Harm avoidance and of 7 and 9 respectively could be used for Separation anxiety. Using the ADI, which is built of those MASC items that are most strongly associated with an anxiety disorder, a score of 15 and 18 could be used to indicate a probable disorder.

Administrationstid #

15 minuter.

Respondentålder #

8-19 år.

Cronbachs alfa #

Multidimensional Anxiety Scale for Children – Parent version, MASC-P (March,
Parker, Sullivan, & Stallings, 1997) är ett screeninginstrument med 39 frågor. Det finns
fyra svarsalternativ, aldrig, sällan, ibland och ofta, där en hög poäng indikerar hög
ångest. Testets frågor kan delas in i fyra faktorer; Fysiska symtom, Undvikande av
skada, Social ängslighet och Separation/panik. Den svenska versionen är översatt av
Lars Göran Öst (2007). Cronbachs alfa reliabiltetskoefficient visar en intern reliabilitet
på 0.85, 0.70, 0.86 och 0.87 på respektive faktor. Validiteten testades genom jämförelse
med närliggande subskalor ur Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale – SCAS (Spence, 1997)
och visade sig ha hög överensstämmelse (Baldwin, 2007)

Svenska normer #

Tord Ivarsson (2006). Normative data for the Multidimensional Anxiety Scale for Children (MASC) in Swedish adolescents ISSN: 0803-9488. Se här: https://gup.ub.gu.se/publication/88634.

Abstract från artikeln “Normative data for the Multidimensional Anxiety Scale for Children (MASC) in Swedish adolescents” av Tord Ivarsson

_The Swedish translation of a new scale developed for childhood and adolescent anxiety, the Multidimensional Anxiety Scale for Children (MASC), was studied regarding reliability and convergent validity and to obtain norms in a general population. Four hundred and five adolescents, reasonably representative of Swedish adolescents, were asked to rate their anxiety symptoms on the MASC. In order to study the convergent validity, they also rated their depressive symptoms on the Children’s Depression Inventory (CDI), their attitude to their body on the Body Esteem Scale for Adolescents and Adults (BESAA) and filled in demographical data on themselves. The MASC showed adequate internal consistency both for the whole scale (alpha = 0.87) and for subscales (range 0.64–0.84). The scale showed convergent validity through a moderate correlation with the CDI (r=0.400, P=0.0001) and the BESAA (r= − 0.29, P=0001). Girls scored higher (mean = 38.9) than boys (mean = 31.9) on the MASC total score (t(385) = 5.14, P=0.0001) and on the subscales, except Harm avoidance. Using the MASC as a general screen for anxiety, scores of 48 for boys and 56 for girls using MASC total scores, or scores of 15 for boys and 17 for girls using the Anxiety Disorders Index could be employed (both representing the 90th percentiles). The MASC appears to be a reliable and valid scale both on the global and on the subscale level._

Länk: https://doi.org/10.1080/08039480600588067

Svenska rättigheter #

Den svenska versionen är översatt av Lars Göran Öst (2007).

Utländska rättigheter #

Abstract originalartikel #

Objective: To describe the history, factor structure, reliability, and validity of the Multidimensional Anxiety Scale for Children (MASC). Method: In two separate school-based population studies, principal-components factor analysis was used, first, to test a theory-driven factor structure, and second, to develop an empirically derived factor structure for the MASC. In a separate study using a clinical population, test-retest reliability at 3 weeks and 3 months, interrater concordance, and convergent and divergent validity were examined. Results: The final version of the MASC consists of 39 items distributed across four major factors, three of which can be parsed into two subfactors each. Main and subfactors include (1) physical symptoms (tense/restless and somatic/autonomic), (2) social anxiety (humiliation/rejection and public performance fears), (3) harm avoidance (perfectionism and anxious coping), and (4) separation anxiety. The MASC factor structure, which presumably reflects the in vivo structure of pediatric anxiety symptoms, is invariant across gender and age and shows excellent internal reliability. AS expected, females show greater anxiety on all factors and subfactors than males. Three-week and 3-month test-retest reliability was satisfactory to excellent. Parent-child agreement was poor to fair. Concordance was greatest for easily observable symptom clusters and for mother-child over father-child or father-mother pairs. Shared variance with scales sampling symptom domains of interest was highest for anxiety, intermediate for depression, and lowest for externalizing symptoms, indicating adequate convergent and divergent validity. Conclusion: The MASC is a promising self-report scale for assessing anxiety in children and adolescents.

Referens #

March, J.S., Parker, J.D., Sullivan, K., Stallings, P. & Conners, C. (1997). The multidimensional anxiety scale for children: Factor structure, reliability, and validity. Journal of the American Academy of Child Adolescent Psychiatry, 36, 554-565.