A French Translation of the Revised Childhood Anxiety Sensitivity Index (Casi-R): Its Factor Structure, Reliability, and Validity in a Nonclinical Sample of Children Aged 12 and 13 Years Old

Abstract

This study ('n' = 237 Belgian children; mean age = 12.3 years; 'SD' = 0.41) examined the factor structure, reliability, and validity of the French translation of the Revised Childhood Anxiety Sensitivity Index (CASI-R). We obtained a hierarchical factor structure with four lower-order factors – "fear of cognitive dyscontrol," "fear of publicly observable anxiety reactions," "fear of respiratory symptoms," and "fear of cardiovascular symptoms" – loading on a single higher-order factor ("anxiety sensitivity"). The French translation revealed acceptable internal consistency and a good interitem structure. Anxiety sensitivity was connected with the anxiety and depression scales but the correlation between the CASI-R and the depression score was more modest than that between the CASI-R and the trait anxiety score, indicating that the CASI-R is an anxiety scale. Girls reported more fear of anxious feelings than boys. This revised version allows for a more fine-grained assessment of the anxiety sensitivity concept.