The History of the RCMAS‐2 and Its Reliability and Validity (Factor Structure) Examined in an Irish Context

This paper reviews the psychometric properties of the Revised Children′s Manifest Anxiety Scale—Second Edition (RCMAS‐2) in Irish children ( n = 912) aged 8–12 years with a view to examining its validity (factor structure) and its reliability. Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to describe the factor structure of the RCMAS‐2. More specifically, it examined whether the original two‐factor structure was preferable to three‐factor or five‐factor structures. The results show that different indices favour different models, and that no single model provided a best fit to the data. The two‐factor model contained (a) an overall anxiety measure and (b) a defensiveness scale. The three‐factor model contained (a) anxiety: worry and oversensitivity, (b) anxiety: physiological and (c) anxiety: fear/concentration. The five‐factor model contained three anxiety and two defensiveness factors. In this study, the RCMAS‐2 demonstrated good internal consistency, similar to the values reported in the manual, with an overall Cronbach′s alpha coefficient of 0.92, and values of 0.75, 0.88 and 0.82 for the physiological anxiety, worry and social anxiety subtests. Educational and clinical implications of the findings for those who work with children are discussed, and suggestions for further research are proposed.