Objective: Anxiety is a frequent comorbid condition in referred primary school-age children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, combined type (ADHD-CT), yet there has been relatively little systematic research of the nature of this comorbid anxiety. We describe the characteristics of parent-reported child anxiety disorders and child-reported anxiety disorders in primary school-age children with ADHD-CT.
Method: A cross-sectional study of 75 clinically-referred psychostimulant medication naïve children with ADHD-CT examining separately parent and child reports of anxiety, defined categorically and dimensionally. A two-year follow up of 12 children with parent-reported child anxiety and 12 children with child-reported anxiety was also completed.
Results: There was no significant association between the child and parent reports of anxiety. Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), separation anxiety disorder (SAD), specific phobia (SpPh) and social phobia (SoPh) were the most common anxiety disorder diagnoses reported by parents and children. Two-year follow-up data revealed no decrease in the parent report but a significant decrease in the child report of anxiety disorders.
Conclusions: The dissonance between the parent report of child anxiety and the child report of anxiety, emphasizes the importance of careful and thorough clinical assessment of the child's perspective. The nature of parent-reported child anxiety and children's self-report of anxiety requires further systematic research.