Interpretation and expectation in childhood anxiety disorders: age effects and social specificity

Creswell, C., Murray, L. and Cooper, P. (2013) Interpretation and expectation in childhood anxiety disorders: age effects and social specificity. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 42 (3). pp. 453-465. ISSN 1573-2835 doi: 10.1007/s10802-013-9795-z

Abstract/Summary

Theory and treatment for childhood anxiety disorders typically implicates children’s negative cognitions, yet little is known about the characteristics of thinking styles of clinically anxious children. In particular, it is unclear whether differences in thinking styles between children with anxiety disorders and non-anxious children vary as a function of child age, whether particular cognitive distortions are associated with childhood anxiety disorders at different child ages, and whether cognitive content is disorder-specific. The current study addressed these questions among 120 7 - 12 year old children (53% female) who met diagnostic criteria for social anxiety disorder, other anxiety disorder, or who were not currently anxious. Contrary to expectations, threat interpretation was not inflated amongst anxious compared to non-anxious children at any age, although older (10 - 12 year old) anxious children did differ from non-anxious children on measures of perceived coping. The notion of cognitive-content specificity was not supported across the age-range. The findings challenge current treatment models of childhood anxiety, and suggest that a focus on changing anxious children’s cognitions is not warranted in mid-childhood, and in late childhood cognitive approaches may be better focussed on promoting children’s perceptions of control rather than challenging threat interpretations.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/32372
Identification Number/DOI	10.1007/s10802-013-9795-z
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Interdisciplinary centres and themes > Winnicott Life Sciences > School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences > Department of Psychology Life Sciences > School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences > Anxiety and Depression in Young People (AnDY)
Publisher	Springer
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