Diagnostic utility of the revised children's manifest anxiety scale in children with DSM-III anxiety disorders

The Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale (RCMAS) was studied for its clinical usefulness in discriminating 44 children with DSM-III anxiety disorders from 95 children with other DSM-III psychiatric diagnoses. The Worry/ Oversensitivity factor of the RCMAS significantly distinguished the anxiety group from the group of other disorders with a higher mean T-score and a greater percentage of pathological T-score elevations. Within the anxiety group, this same factor showed the highest mean T-score and was most commonly the highest T-score in the RCMAS factor profile. A cutoff procedure using the Worry/Oversensitivity factor produced promising accuracy values, especially in the identification of children without anxiety disorders (specificity = 80%). Use of the RCMAS as one part of an empirical, multimethod assessment was recommended for the most accurate identification of children with anxiety disorders.