Young children have social worries too: validation of a brief parent report measure of social worries in children aged 4–8 years

This study investigated the psychometric properties of the Social Worries Anxiety Index for Young children (SWAIY), adapted from the Social Worries Questionnaire—Parent version (SWQ-P; Spence, 1995), as a measure of social anxiety in young children. 169 parents of children aged four to eight years from a community sample completed the SWAIY and a standardized measure of anxiety; the SWAIY was completed again two weeks later. Parents deemed the items appropriate and relevant to children of this age. The SWAIY demonstrated excellent ( > 0.80) internal consistency and a one-factor model. Test-retest reliability was strong (r = 0.87) and evidence of convergent validity (r > .50) was found. The study provides initial evidence for the validation of SWAIY as a measure of social anxiety in children aged four to eight years old. This questionnaire is ideal for investigating social anxiety over early childhood and the relationship between early social worries and later anxiety disorders

Behavioral Inhibition as a Risk Factor for the Development of Childhood Anxiety Disorders: A Longitudinal Study

This longitudinal study examined the additive and interactive effects of behavioral inhibition and a wide range of other vulnerability factors in the development of anxiety problems in youths. A sample of 261 children, aged 5 to 8 years, 124 behaviorally inhibited and 137 control children, were followed during a 3-year period. Assessments took place on three occasions to measure children’s level of behavioral inhibition, anxiety disorder symptoms, other psychopathological symptoms, and a number of other vulnerability factors such as insecure attachment, negative parenting styles, adverse life events, and parental anxiety. Results obtained with Structural Equation Modeling indicated that behavioral inhibition primarily acted as a specific risk factor for the development of social anxiety symptoms. Furthermore, the longitudinal model showed additive as well as interactive effects for various vulnerability factors on the development of anxiety symptoms. That is, main effects of anxious rearing and parental trait anxiety were found, whereas behavioral inhibition and attachment had an interactive effect on anxiety symptomatology. Moreover, behavioral inhibition itself was also influenced by some of the vulnerability factors. These results provide support for dynamic, multifactorial models for the etiology of child anxiety problems

Attachment, behavioral inhibition, and anxiety in preschool children

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Caregiving representations of mothers of behaviorally inhibited and uninhibited preschool children

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Family factors and the development of anxiety disorders

Over the past 10-15 years, an accumulation of evidence has led to important advances in the understanding of the aetiology of internalizing disorders. Most theoretical models of childhood anxiety stress the interaction between genetic and environmental factors in the origin and maintenance of anxiety disorders (Chorpita & Barlow, 1998; Ginsburg, Siqueland, Masia-Warner, & Hedtke, 2004; Hudson & Rapee, 2004; Manassis & Bradley, 1994; Rubin & Mills, 1991). One main area of research involves the investigation of child-rearing patterns and family environment as important contributors to the development of childhood anxiety (for reviews see Ginsburg et al., 2004; Masia & Morris, 1998; Rapee, 1997; Wood, McLeod, Sigman, Hwang, & Chu, 2003). The purpose of this chapter is to provide a review of aspects of family influences with potential importance for the aetiology and maintenance of anxiety disorders. This chapter covers current research on the genetic transmission of anxiety and familial environmental influences including attachment, parenting dimensions, parent psychopathology, in addition to other aspects of the family environment such as cohesion and family climate. The chapter discusses these findings within the context of current models of anxiety development and exmaines limitations extant in the current literature