William W Hale1, Quinten Raaijmakers2, Peter Muris2, Anne van Hoof2, Wim Meeus2. 1. Drs. Hale, Raaijmakers, and Meeus are with the Research Center for Adolescent Development at Utrecht University; Dr. Muris is with the Institute of Psychology at Erasmus University Rotterdam; and Dr. van Hoof is with the Department of Developmental Psychology at Utrecht University.. Electronic address: b.hale@uu.nl. 2. Drs. Hale, Raaijmakers, and Meeus are with the Research Center for Adolescent Development at Utrecht University; Dr. Muris is with the Institute of Psychology at Erasmus University Rotterdam; and Dr. van Hoof is with the Department of Developmental Psychology at Utrecht University.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: This study prospectively examined the developmental trajectories of anxiety disorder symptoms in a large sample of adolescents from the general population. METHOD: Two cohorts of early and middle adolescents (1,318 junior high and high school students) completed the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders during 5 consecutive years. The Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders is a questionnaire that measures self-rated child and adolescent anxiety symptoms that map onto DSM-IV-TR anxiety disorders. At the first wave of measurement, the early and middle adolescent cohorts were an average of 12 and 16 years of age, respectively. Age and sex differences in the developmental trajectories of adolescent anxiety disorder symptoms over time were examined by means of latent growth modeling. RESULTS: Over the course of 5 years, there was a slight decrease in the panic disorder, school anxiety, and separation anxiety disorder symptoms for all of the adolescents, with the exception of social phobia symptoms, which remained fairly stable over time. Adolescent girls showed a slight increase of generalized anxiety disorder symptoms over time, whereas these symptoms decreased among adolescent boys. CONCLUSIONS: This study replicates and extends earlier findings on the developmental trajectories of anxiety symptoms during adolescence. By using individually focused, trajectory-based analyses rather than group score differences, this study extends earlier findings and advances our understanding of age and sex differences in the development of adolescent anxiety symptoms.
OBJECTIVE: This study prospectively examined the developmental trajectories of anxiety disorder symptoms in a large sample of adolescents from the general population. METHOD: Two cohorts of early and middle adolescents (1,318 junior high and high school students) completed the Screen for ChildAnxiety Related Emotional Disorders during 5 consecutive years. The Screen for ChildAnxiety Related Emotional Disorders is a questionnaire that measures self-rated child and adolescent anxiety symptoms that map onto DSM-IV-TR anxiety disorders. At the first wave of measurement, the early and middle adolescent cohorts were an average of 12 and 16 years of age, respectively. Age and sex differences in the developmental trajectories of adolescent anxiety disorder symptoms over time were examined by means of latent growth modeling. RESULTS: Over the course of 5 years, there was a slight decrease in the panic disorder, school anxiety, and separation anxiety disorder symptoms for all of the adolescents, with the exception of social phobia symptoms, which remained fairly stable over time. Adolescent girls showed a slight increase of generalized anxiety disorder symptoms over time, whereas these symptoms decreased among adolescent boys. CONCLUSIONS: This study replicates and extends earlier findings on the developmental trajectories of anxiety symptoms during adolescence. By using individually focused, trajectory-based analyses rather than group score differences, this study extends earlier findings and advances our understanding of age and sex differences in the development of adolescent anxiety symptoms.
Authors: Rany Abend; Leone de Voogd; Elske Salemink; Reinout W Wiers; Koraly Pérez-Edgar; Amanda Fitzgerald; Lauren K White; Giovanni A Salum; Jie He; Wendy K Silverman; Jeremy W Pettit; Daniel S Pine; Yair Bar-Haim Journal: Depress Anxiety Date: 2017-12-06 Impact factor: 6.505