Preschool Anxiety Disorders: Comprehensive Assessment of Clinical, Demographic, Temperamental, Familial, and Life Stress Correlates
- 31 January 2013
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Informa UK Limited in Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology
- Vol. 42 (5), 577-589
- https://doi.org/10.1080/15374416.2012.759225
Abstract
This study examined correlates of preschoolers' anxiety disorders using a comprehensive, multimethod design. Participants included a community sample of 541 three-year-old children, of whom 106 (19.6%) met criteria for at least 1 anxiety disorder. Child and parental psychopathology and life stress were assessed with clinical interviews. Child temperament and parenting behavior were assessed with laboratory observations. Mothers and fathers reported on their parenting styles. Compared to preschoolers with no anxiety disorder, preschoolers with an anxiety disorder were more likely to meet criteria for comorbid depressive and oppositional defiant disorders and to exhibit greater temperamental behavioral inhibition and lower positive affectivity, and more sleep problems. Children with anxiety disorders also experienced more stressful life events in the previous 6 months, and their mothers had a higher rate of current anxiety disorders. Compared to children with other anxiety disorders, children with only specific phobia exhibited a somewhat different pattern of associations than children with other anxiety disorders. Overall, the findings suggest that many of the correlates observed in older youth with anxiety disorders are also observed in preschoolers.Keywords
This publication has 62 references indexed in Scilit:
- Preschoolers' Observed Temperament and Psychiatric Disorders Assessed with a Parent Diagnostic InterviewJournal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, 2011
- Parent-reported mental health in preschoolers: findings using a diagnostic interviewComprehensive Psychiatry, 2010
- Temperamental emotionality in preschool-aged children and depressive disorders in parents: Associations in a large community sample.Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 2010
- Low positive affectivity and behavioral inhibition in preschool-age children: A replication and extension of previous findingsPersonality and Individual Differences, 2010
- Anxiety and Anxiety Disorders in Children and Adolescents: Developmental Issues and Implications for DSM-VPsychiatric Clinics of North America, 2009
- Phasic vs Sustained Fear in Rats and Humans: Role of the Extended Amygdala in Fear vs AnxietyNeuropsychopharmacology, 2009
- The Prevalence of ADHD, ODD, Depression, and Anxiety in a Community Sample of 4-Year-OldsJournal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, 2009
- Schedule for affective disorders and schizophrenia for school-age children (K-SADS-PL) for the assessment of preschool children – A preliminary psychometric studyJournal of Psychiatric Research, 2008
- Differentiation between low positive affectivity and behavioral inhibition in preschool-age children: A comparison of behavioral approach in novel and non-novel contextsPersonality and Individual Differences, 2008
- Lifetime Prevalence and Age-of-Onset Distributions of DSM-IV Disorders in the National Comorbidity Survey ReplicationArchives of General Psychiatry, 2005