Publication Date

2022

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

First Advisor

Valentiner, David P.

Degree Name

Ph.D. (Doctor of Philosophy)

Legacy Department

Department of Psychology

Abstract

Anxiety disorders are the most prevalent of any group of disorders among adolescents. Further, the prevalence of anxiety disorders has been shown to increase from adolescence to young adulthood, underscoring the importance of researching adolescent anxiety. Screening for anxiety in adolescents is necessary to identify and treat these disorders, which requires measures with good psychometric properties. One aim of the present study was to examine and compare the psychometric properties of the separation anxiety, social anxiety, panic, and generalized anxiety scales of the Screen for Child Anxiety-Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED), the Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale (SCAS), and the Youth Anxiety Measure for DSM-5 (YAM-5) with a community adolescent sample. Another aim was to examine the application of two theories of anxiety disorders in adults (i.e., experiential avoidance, intolerance of uncertainty) to anxiety disorders in adolescents. Findings provide more support for the psychometric properties of the social anxiety scales of the SCARED and YAM-5 than the social scale of the SCAS. More support was found for the generalized anxiety scale of the SCARED, as compared to the SCAS and YAM-5. The separation anxiety and panic scales of all three measures had questionable psychometric properties. Finally, experiential avoidance and intolerance of uncertainty were associated with symptoms of social anxiety and generalized anxiety. The findings of the present study have implications for the assessment and understanding of anxiety symptomatology in adolescents.

Extent

223 pages

Language

eng

Publisher

Northern Illinois University

Rights Statement

In Copyright

Rights Statement 2

NIU theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors.

Media Type

Text

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