Psychometrics of the Second Edition of the Multidimensional Child Anxiety Scale (Student Form) (MASC-2) in Iranian Students

Anxiety is one of the most common disorders in various stages of life from childhood to adulthood. If the anxiety disorder is severe and persistent, it can severely impair in a person's performace. This dysfunction in childhood and adolescence manifests in various forms, such as not doing homework, isolation in relationships with peers, and lack of proper social functioning. Anxiety can be characterized psychologically and behaviorally in the form of aggression, stubbornness, lack of emotional regulation, anger, irritability, hyperactivity, and attention deficit disorder. Physically, anxiety also has symptoms, such as headaches, nausea, digestive problems, high heart rate, high blood pressure, respiratory problems, and muscle tension. While some childhood fears and anxieties are part of a child's normal development, a number of anxiety problems persist over time and pass into adolescence or even adulthood. Therefore, if these anxiety disorders are not treated in childhood and adolescence, they can lead to chronic anxiety disorders in adulthood. This study aimed to investigate the psychometric properties (validity and reliability) of the second Edition of the Multidimensional Scale of Child Anxiety (Student Form) (MASC–2) in Iranian students.

This was a methodological study. MASC–2 was translated into Persian and edited by several linguists in terms of Persian grammar structure. The translated version of the tool was answered by 30 members of the target community. The study statistical population comprised all 9 to 18 years old students in Tehran City, Iran. The sample size of 515 people was selected by the available sampling method, of which 270 were girls and 245 were boys. The sample answered the second version of the Multidimensional Child Anxiety Scale (March, 2013). Ten experts were used to evaluate content validity ration (CVR) and content validity index (CVI). Confirmatory factor analysis was used to evaluate the validity of the scale structure and Cronbach's alpha value was used to evaluate the reliability coefficient. Confirmatory factor analysis was performed using LISREL software version 8.8. and Cronbach's alpha coefficient was calculated using SPSS software version 24.

According to 10 experts, the CVR was more than 0.80 for all items. Regarding the CVI, a total of 0.872 was obtained for 50 items. The results of confirmatory factor analysis showed that 50 items on the scale of 8 factors of harm avoidance, tense/restlessness, panic, obsession, performance fears, humiliation/rejection, social anxiety, and separation anxiety measure well. Fit indices were X2/df=2.97, RMSEA=0.062, CFI=0.93, GFI=0.92. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient factors of harm avoidance=0.796, tense/restlessness=0.836, panic=0.811, obsessive–compulsive disorder=0.837, performance fears=0.794, humiliation/rejection=0.776, social anxiety=0.701, and separation anxiety=0.761.

According to the findings of this study,the Multidimensional Child Anxiety Scale (Student Form) (MASC–2) in Iranian students has good validity and reliability and can be used as a suitable tool in clinical and research situations and to diagnose anxiety in people aged 9 to 18 years.