Am J Psychiatry 1990; 147:313-318
Copyright © 1990 by American Psychiatric Association
A community study of anxiety in children and adolescents
JH Kashani and H Orvaschel
Department of Psychiatry, University of Missouri-Columbia 65201.
The authors used an epidemiologic approach to investigate rates, symptoms,
and behavioral concomitants of anxiety across the child and adolescent age
span. They drew 210 children aged 8, 12, and 17 in equal numbers from a
community sample and evaluated them with structured diagnostic assessments.
They found anxiety to be the most frequently reported type of
psychopathology across all three age groups. Although the prevalence of any
anxiety symptom remained constant, specific types of anxiety varied with
age. Age differences in nonanxiety behavior were found between subjects
with and without anxiety, particularly with regard to interpersonal
dysfunction.
