Purpose:                              Measure anxiety in children

Age range:                          9 to 12 years

Admin:                                 Individual or group

Admin time:                       8-20 minutes

 

The STAIC is a self-administered measure of anxiety for elementary school children in Grades 4, 5, and 6. It is composed of separate, self-report scales for measuring two distinct anxiety concepts: state anxiety (A-State) and trait anxiety (A-Trait). The STAIC is similar in concept and structure to the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), which provides measures of anxiety for adolescents and adults. Although especially constructed to measure anxiety in children ages 9-12 years, the STAIC also may be used with younger children with average or above average reading ability and with older children who are below average in reading ability.

 

The A-State scale consists of 20 statements that ask children how they feel at a particular moment in time. It measures transitory anxiety states, that is, subjective, consciously perceived feelings of apprehension, tension, and worry that vary in intensity and fluctuate over time.

The A-Trait scale consists of 20 statements that ask children how they generally feel. It measures relatively stable individual differences in anxiety proneness, that is, differences between children in the tendency to experience anxiety states.

 

The test was normed on 737 male and 814 female 4th-, 5th-, and 6th-grade students. The manual includes information about administration, scoring, development, norms, and reliability. The single-page test form includes the A-State and A-Trait scales printed on opposite sides. It also includes complete instructions for the test. A scoring key makes scoring easy.