Depressive comorbidity in preschool anxiety disorder.
Journal Article (Journal Article)
BACKGROUND: The threshold for clinical relevance of preschool anxiety has recently come under increasing scrutiny in view of large variations in prevalence estimates. We studied the impact of presence/absence of additional depressive comorbidity (symptoms and/or diagnosis) on preschoolers with anxiety disorders in relation to clinical phenomenology, family, and peer problems compared to healthy controls. METHOD: A population of 1738 preschoolers were screened and oversampled for internalizing symptoms from community sites, yielding a sample of 236 children. RESULTS: Using a multi-informant approach (mother, father, teacher, child), we found evidence that children with anxiety disorders and depressive comorbidity display a greater internalizing symptom-load, more peer problems and live in families with more psychosocial impairment (poor family functioning, family adversity, maternal mental health problems). The pure anxiety group was merely dissociable from controls with regard to internalizing symptoms and family adversity. CONCLUSION: The presence of depressive comorbidity in anxiety disorders may mark the transition to a more detrimental and impairing disorder at preschool age.
Full Text
Duke Authors
Cited Authors
- von Klitzing, K; White, LO; Otto, Y; Fuchs, S; Egger, HL; Klein, AM
Published Date
- October 2014
Published In
Volume / Issue
- 55 / 10
Start / End Page
- 1107 - 1116
PubMed ID
- 24628459
Pubmed Central ID
- PMC4263236
Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)
- 1469-7610
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
- 10.1111/jcpp.12222
Language
- eng
Conference Location
- England