Kearney Christopher A, Sims Karen E, Pursell Courtney R, Tillotson Cheryl A
Department of Psychology, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 4505 Maryland Parkway, Las Vegas, NV 89154-5030, USA.
J Clin Child Adolesc Psychol. 2003 Dec;32(4):593-8. doi: 10.1207/S15374424JCCP3204_12.
We conducted a longitudinal study of young children with clinical, subclinical, or nonclinical levels of separation anxiety to evaluate the diagnostic stability and concomitant parent and family variables of separation anxiety disorder (SAD). Youngsters were assessed at age 3 years (n = 60) and 3.5 years later (n = 44). Data were collected from children, parents, teachers, and clinicians. Results revealed that most diagnoses of SAD were not stable during this developmental period, as many children drifted toward subclinical or nonclinical status. In addition, children with clinical SAD, compared to those with subclinical SAD or no symptoms of SAD, had a disproportionately higher number of comorbid diagnoses and experienced significantly greater somatic concerns, anxiety, and general internalizing behavior. In addition, their parents experienced greater depression, obsessive-compulsive behavior, phobic anxiety, and general distress. The results preliminarily support prior findings that most children experience a dissipation of SAD symptoms in young childhood but that some children continue to experience stable, significant distress. The results are consistent with prior research on older children that SAD remits for many but not all youth and suggest that parent and family variables may have much to do with cases of poor remission in this population.
我们对患有临床、亚临床或非临床水平分离焦虑的幼儿进行了一项纵向研究，以评估分离焦虑障碍（SAD）的诊断稳定性以及与之相关的父母和家庭变量。对60名3岁儿童和44名3.5年后的儿童进行了评估。数据收集自儿童、父母、教师和临床医生。结果显示，在这个发育阶段，大多数SAD诊断并不稳定，因为许多儿童转向了亚临床或非临床状态。此外，与患有亚临床SAD或无SAD症状的儿童相比，患有临床SAD的儿童共病诊断的数量不成比例地更高，并且经历了明显更多的躯体担忧、焦虑和一般内化行为。此外，他们的父母经历了更严重的抑郁、强迫行为、恐惧焦虑和一般困扰。结果初步支持了先前的研究结果，即大多数儿童在幼儿期SAD症状会消失，但有些儿童仍会持续经历稳定且明显的困扰。这些结果与先前对大龄儿童的研究一致，即SAD在许多但并非所有青少年中会缓解，并表明父母和家庭变量可能与该人群中缓解不佳的情况密切相关。
