Psychometric Properties of the Anxiety Scale for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASC-ASD) (Parent versions)

The present study was conducted with the aim of evaluating the psychometric properties of the anxiety scale of children with autism spectrum disorder (parent form). The method of the current research was a correlational description. The statistical population of the present study was all children with autism spectrum disorder in Tehran city who were referred to autism education and rehabilitation centers in 2022. 315 children (193 boys and 122 girls) were selected using available sampling method. After translating and obtaining the opinions of experts and subjects, the face validity of the scale was confirmed. AMOS and SPSS software were used for statistical analysis. The results of confirmatory factor analysis showed that in the sample of Iranian children with autism spectrum disorder, the four-factor structure of the scale including performance anxiety, anxiety arousal, separation anxiety and uncertainty had a good fit with the data. The results related to the correlation between this scale and the Spence anxiety scale experimentally supported the convergent validity of the anxiety scale of children with autism spectrum disorder. The internal consistency coefficients of the whole scale and subscales of functional anxiety, anxiety arousal, separation anxiety and uncertainty were obtained as 0.79, 0.78, 0.81, 0.76 and 0.82, respectively. Overall, the results of the present study showed that the anxiety scale of children with autism spectrum disorder is a valid and reliable tool for measuring anxiety in Iranian children with autism spectrum disorder. This tool can be used to measure anxiety in Research and treatment sections.