Psychometric properties of the Revised Children’s Manifest Anxiety Scale–Second Edition in Peruvian students

Abstract

The aim of this study was to analyze the psychometric properties of the Revised Children’s Manifest Anxiety Scale–Second Edition (RCMAS-2) among Peruvian students. The sample consisted of 472 participants aged between 7 and 18 years, of whom 250 were female (53%). Likewise, 191 were enrolled from third to sixth grade of primary school (40.5%), and 281 were registered from first to fifth grade of secondary school (59.5%). The results of the study indicated that the RCMAS-2 scores had adequate levels of reliability for all its dimensions (ordinal alpha > .70). On the other hand, a four-factor structure (Physiological anxiety, Worry/Social anxiety, Defensiveness I, and Defensiveness II) was found to be invariant to gender and schooling level. Also, convergent and discriminant validity evidence was provided. Finally, a moderate difference in Defensiveness II according to the schooling level through the latent mean structure analysis was found. Taking into ac-count the results, it was concluded that the RCMAS-2 scores have evidence of reliability, validity, and equity for its use in Peruvian regular elementary school students.

Keywords

• rcmas-2
• anxiety
• psychometric properties
• factorial invariance
• peruvian students