Am J Psychiatry 1987; 144:1580-1583
Copyright © 1987 by American Psychiatric Association
Psychiatric illness in the mothers of anxious children
CG Last, M Hersen, AE Kazdin, G Francis and HJ Grubb
Department of Psychiatry, Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, PA 15213.
The authors compared maternal lifetime psychiatric illness for children
with separation anxiety disorder and/or overanxious disorder (N = 58) and
for children who were psychiatrically disturbed but did not manifest an
anxiety or affective disorder (N = 15). The vast majority (83%) of mothers
of children with separation anxiety disorder and/or overanxious disorder
had a lifetime history of an anxiety disorder. Moreover, over one-half
(57%) of the mothers presented with an anxiety disorder at the same time at
which their children were seen for similar problems. Both of these rates
significantly differed from those obtained for control subjects.
