California State University San Marcos, Department of Psychology, 333 S. Twin Oaks Valley Road, San Marcos, CA, 92096-0001, United States.
Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, 4094 Campus Dr., College Park, MD, 20742, United States.
J Anxiety Disord. 2019 Apr;63:9-17. doi: 10.1016/j.janxdis.2019.01.006. Epub 2019 Jan 19.
Although anxiety can be early-emerging, impairing, and persistent, behaviors relevant to anxiety mirror typical development in early childhood. To better understand the spectrum of typical to problematic behavior, this study characterizes the range of frequency and severity of separation and social anxiety behaviors and associated impairment in preschool-aged children using a novel daily diary method. Primary caregivers of 291 3-5-year-old children reported the frequency of children's daily separation and social anxiety behaviors and related impairment for 14 days. Frequencies of each separation and social anxiety behavior were computed and item response theory analyses revealed the specific frequencies at which the behavior was considered psychometrically severe/rare. Patterns varied across items; for example, worry that caregiver would not return and shyness with familiar adults had to occur at least 3-4 times over 14 days for the behavior to be considered severe/rare, whereas shyness around peers and new people were not severe at any frequency. In addition, behaviors were associated with impairment. To our knowledge, these data are the first to delineate empirical, dimensional information about the frequency and severity of anxiety behaviors and associated impairment in early childhood. Such data could be useful for clinical practice to enhance empirically-driven assessment of anxiety.
尽管焦虑可能很早就出现，且具有损伤性和持续性，但与焦虑相关的行为与儿童早期的典型发展相吻合。为了更好地理解典型行为到问题行为的范围，本研究采用一种新颖的日常日记法，描述了学龄前儿童分离和社交焦虑行为及其相关损伤的频率和严重程度范围。291 名 3-5 岁儿童的主要照顾者在 14 天内报告了儿童日常分离和社交焦虑行为及其相关损伤的频率。计算了每种分离和社交焦虑行为的频率，项目反应理论分析揭示了行为在心理测量上严重/罕见的特定频率。模式因项目而异；例如，担心照顾者不会回来和对熟悉的成年人害羞，必须在 14 天内至少发生 3-4 次，才能被认为是严重/罕见，而在同伴和陌生人面前害羞则不会在任何频率上变得严重。此外，这些行为与损伤有关。据我们所知，这些数据是首次对儿童早期焦虑行为及其相关损伤的频率和严重程度进行实证、维度描述。这些数据对于临床实践中增强基于实证的焦虑评估可能是有用的。
