Anxiety disorders in children and adolescents with intellectual disability: Prevalence and assessment

Tessa C Reardon; Kylie M Gray; Glenn A Melvin

doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2014.10.007

Anxiety disorders in children and adolescents with intellectual disability: Prevalence and assessment

Res Dev Disabil. 2015 Jan:36C:175-190. doi: 10.1016/j.ridd.2014.10.007. Epub 2014 Oct 21.

Authors

Tessa C Reardon¹, Kylie M Gray², Glenn A Melvin¹

Affiliations

¹ Centre for Developmental Psychiatry and Psychology, Department of Psychiatry, School of Clinical Sciences, Monash University, Australia.
² Centre for Developmental Psychiatry and Psychology, Department of Psychiatry, School of Clinical Sciences, Monash University, Australia. Electronic address: kylie.gray@monash.edu.

PMID: 25462478
DOI: 10.1016/j.ridd.2014.10.007

Abstract

Children and adolescents with intellectual disability are known to experience mental health disorders, but anxiety disorders in this population have received relatively little attention. Firstly, this paper provides a review of published studies reporting prevalence rates of anxiety disorders in children and adolescents with intellectual disability. Secondly, the paper reviews measures of anxiety that have been evaluated in children/adolescents with intellectual disability, and details the associated psychometric properties. Seven studies reporting prevalence rates of anxiety disorders in this population were identified, with reported rates varying from 3% to 22%. Two-one studies evaluating a measure of anxiety in a sample of children/adolescents with intellectual disability were identified. While these studies indicate that several measures show promise, further evaluation studies are needed; particularly those that evaluate the capacity of measures to screen for anxiety disorders, not only measure symptoms.

Keywords: Adolescents; Anxiety disorders; Assessment; Children; Intellectual disability; Prevalence.

Publication types

Review