[The Spider Phobia Questionnaire for Children and Adolescents (SPQ-CA) - development and validation of a German short scale].

OBJECTIVE

Spider phobia is rather common in Western societies and mainly afflicts females. The disorder has a very early onset but is very rarely diagnosed and treated in children and adolescents. Thus, there is a need for a reliable, valid, and economic questionnaire for the assessment of the disorder in children and adolescents.

METHOD: For the development (exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis) and validation purposes, 816 children and adolescents aged between 7 and 15 years answered the questionnaire.

RESULTS

The resulting Spider Phobia Questionnaire for Children and Adolescents (SPQ-CA) consists of ten items and has a good internal consistency (Cronbach's α = .86). The scale correlates positively with overall anxiety, disgust proneness, and sensitivity.

CONCLUSIONS

The short scale SPQ-CA is a reliable, valid and economic instrument for the assessment of spider fear and is particularly well suited for application in psychotherapeutic studies.