Reliability and clinical validity of the children''s fear survey schedule

This paper traces the early development of the Children's Fear Survey Schedule (CFSS) and reports initial reliability and validity studies. The CFSS is a simple self-report instrument to be used for children between the ages of 4 and 12 years. It has been designed to identify specific fear stimuli and to measure the intensity of each stimulus. Applications are twofold: clinical and research. Three hypotheses were tested: test-retest reliability, clinical validity, sex differences on total fear scores. Test-retest reliability of 0.85 was obtained. Clinical validity was established. Females were found to report higher fear scores than males. The authors call for more research on the CFSS.