Making high‐quality measures available in diverse contexts—The psychometric properties of the Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale in a Norwegian sample

Abstract

Abstract Objectives Recent initiatives have recommended the Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale (RCADS) for use in research and as patient‐reported outcome in health care globally. We aimed to investigate, for the first time, whether the psychometric properties of the anxiety and depression youth self‐report measures, RCADS‐47 and RCADS‐25, generalize to a Norwegian setting. Methods We examined gender and age differences in symptomatology among 592 children (mean age 10.7 years), and conducted a psychometric investigation of the internal reliability, structural validity, measurement invariance and convergent validity of the RCADS‐47 and RCADS‐25 youth versions. Results Girls reported higher levels of anxious and depressive symptoms than boys, but no age differences were observed. Reliability coefficients for the RCADS‐47 and RCADS‐25 scales indicated good internal consistency. Structural validity for RCADS‐47 and RCADS‐25 was supported by confirmatory factor analyses results. For both measures, strong gender‐based measurement invariance was present. Convergent validity of the RCADS‐47 and RCADS‐25 with other well‐established self‐report measures for anxiety (Multidimensional Anxiety Scale for Children) and depression (The Short Mood and Feelings Questionnaire) was supported. Conclusion The RCADS‐47 and RCADS‐25 youth versions are valid and reliable instruments for measuring symptoms of anxiety and depression in a Norwegian setting. The results add to the evidence supporting RCADS's cross‐cultural validity.

Keywords

• anxiety
• depression
• psychometrics
• RCADS
• youth