Distinguishing anxiety in childhood
Subtitle: clinical and cognitive characteristics
By: by Shonna Claudelle Francis John.
Published: 2005
Language: eng
Number of pages: 159
Subjects: Anxiety in children -- Diagnosis.; Social phobia -- Diagnosis.; Separation anxiety in children -- Diagnosis.
Description: Objective. To investigate the discriminant validity of children diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder, social phobia and/or separation anxiety disorder and typically developing children.  Method. The data on discriminant features are reported in two chapters. Participants were 91 children (7-12 years) with a diagnosis of anxiety disorder and 34 normal comparison children. In the first manuscript, various self-report and rating scales were administered to investigate the demographic, clinical, psychosocial and familial (genetic and environmental) features of clinical groups of anxious children. In the second study, biological-cognitive characteristics of the anxious and comparison subgroups were examined through the use of four measures of working memory that varied in cognitive demand and modality (auditory-verbal, visual-spatial). Results. There were more clinical and cognitive similarities than differences among the anxious subgroups. Comorbidity between childhood anxiety disorders may serve as a proxy for general severity rather than an indication of an overlap of different types of psychopathology. Anxious children were distinguished from the normal comparison group on several measures of clinical phenomenology, familial (genetic and environmental) and biological factors. The anxious children also had a deficit in complex verbal working memory relative to the typically developing children. Conclusion. This research is an important step in determining the discriminant validity of three of the most common and co-occurring anxiety disorders in children. The results support the validity of the diagnosis of childhood anxiety disorders as a general category, with minimal support for differentiation among specific anxiety disorder subgroups. A dimensional approach to the conceptualization of childhood anxiety disorders may be warranted. This approach would focus on factors that cut across anxiety and how they vary with development. This alternate conceptualization may spur clinicians to gather a more complete diagnostic picture of anxious children that describes their strengths and weaknesses across settings, which will ensure that treatments are geared towards anxious children's symptoms rather than their diagnosis.
Notes: Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Toronto, 2005.

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 137-156)