6. Anxiety in Children - an epidemic?

Question 1

Barlow (2002) highlights that anxiety is a

Answer 1

future-oriented emotion

Question 2

future-oriented emotions are related to the possibility of

Answer 2

a future aversive event, that may or may not happen

Question 3

there is an uncontrollable and unpredictable element to the perceived aversive event, which heightens

Answer 3

worry and subsequent physiological and behavioural reactivity

Question 4

Anxiety represents a family of disorders which includes

Answer 4

specific phobias, separation anxiety disorder, generalised anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, social phobia, panic attack, acute stress disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, and substance-induced anxiety disorder

Question 5

Anxiety in the form of phobias/fears, separation anxiety disorder and generalised anxiety typically have their onset in

Answer 5

childhood, usually at around 8-10 years of age

Question 6

social phobia, panic disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder are more likely to emerge in

Answer 6

adolescence

Question 7

Huberty (2008) proposes that childhood anxiety has distinct

Answer 7

cognitive, behavioural and physiological characteristics

Question 8

Vasey and Dadds (2001) and Ollendick and Vasey (2001) propose that there are two main pathways via which anxiety develops in children and adolescents

Answer 8

1. The cumulative risk pathway
2. Precipitating events pathway

Question 9

The cumulative risk pathway is

Answer 9

a combination of predisposing factors increase the child’s risk and exposure to repeated anxiety-triggering events

Question 10

Precipitating events pathway is where

Answer 10

anxiety is a learned response to an event/s. .

Question 11

A Google search using the phrase “anxiety epidemic in children” returns over

Answer 11

700, 000 results

Question 12

is there an anxiety epidemic in Australia’s children and adolescents?

Answer 12

Overall, Australian data is difficult to find!

Question 13

the first survey of mental health in Australia’s young people, The Australian Child and Adolescent Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing was in

Answer 13

1998-2000

Question 14

In 2000, Boyd and colleagues surveyed 1,299 adolescents in Melbourne and found that

Answer 14

13.2% reported anxiety levels above the clinical cut-off score on the Revised Children’s Manifest Anxiety Scale