Reliability generalization of the revised children's manifest anxiety scale

A reliability generalization of the Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale (RCMAS) was conducted using the normative sample. The RCMAS consists of a Total Anxiety scale as well as four subcales. Results suggest that the Total Anxiety scores are typically reliable (median alpha across 48 samples = .81). Subscale scores were less reliable: The median alpha coefficients were .61 for the Physiological subscale, .63 for the Concentration subscale, .77 for the Worry & Oversensitivity subscale, and .72 for the Lie subscale. Hierarchical regression analyses demonstrated that score variability, age, race, and mean score were statistically significant predictors of reliability across scales although effects were variable and often, but not always, small. The predictive power of score variability is consistent with psychometric theory, but focused psychometric analyses are needed to isolate the unique and interactive impact of age, race, and mean score on RCMAS scale score reliability estimates, especially the Lie subscale.