Anxiety in Children

Abstract

Although the study and treatment of adult anxiety have traditionally received a great deal of theoretical and empirical attention in psychology and in psychiatry, the topic of childhood anxiety has tended to be overlooked (Wolfson, Fields, & Rose, 1987). Yet children with anxiety disorders comprise a significant portion of patients treated at mental health centers (Cytryn, McKnew, Zahn-Waxler, Radke-Yarrow, Gaensbauer, Harmon, & Lamour, 1984). The belief that anxiety in childhood is common and transient appears to have undermined interest in exploring its nature and development (Wolfson et al., 1987). Even if this were so, the distress produced when anxiety is manifest may well warrant attention (Jenkins, Bax, & Hart, 1980). Moreover, there is evidence that childhood anxiety may be predictive of pathology at later development stages of an individual's life (Bowlby, 1973; Kellam, Branch, Agrawal, & Ensminger, 1975).