How Anxious are German Preschool Children?

Daniela Ehrenberg; Arnold Lohaus; Kerstin Konrad; Lorena Lüning; Nina Heinrichs

doi:10.1007/s10578-021-01185-8

How Anxious are German Preschool Children?

Child Psychiatry Hum Dev. 2022 Oct;53(5):992-1003. doi: 10.1007/s10578-021-01185-8. Epub 2021 May 8.

Authors

Daniela Ehrenberg¹, Arnold Lohaus², Kerstin Konrad³, Lorena Lüning⁴, Nina Heinrichs^{4

5}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology, Institute of Clinical Psychology, Psychotherapy and Assessment, University of Braunschweig, Humboldtstraße 33, 38106, Braunschweig, Germany. d.ehrenberg@tu-braunschweig.de.
² Department of Psychology, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany.
³ Child Neuropsychology Section, Institute of Molecular Neuroscience and Neuroimaging (INM-11), RWTH Aachen University Hospital and Research Center Jülich, University Hospital Aachen, Juelich, Aachen, Germany.
⁴ Department of Psychology, Institute of Clinical Psychology, Psychotherapy and Assessment, University of Braunschweig, Humboldtstraße 33, 38106, Braunschweig, Germany.
⁵ Department of Psychology, Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany.

Abstract

The experience of fear is universal and is among the earliest of all forms of psychopathology, if excessively present. To prevent negative developmental outcomes due to early-onset excessive fears in children, it is important to systematically assess these experiences as early as possible. Using the preschool anxiety scale (PAS), we aimed to assess the frequency and structure of anxiety symptoms of 489 preschool-aged children raised in their biological family and 88 raised in foster care (as a high-risk sample) in Germany. While these young children displayed the same types of anxiety most commonly as young children in other countries, the overall occurrence seems to be reported less often by parents in Germany compared to parents from other countries. Anxiety symptoms clustered into five correlated factors (generalized anxiety, social anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), physical injury fear and separation anxiety). Young children in foster care exhibited more OCD and significantly less social anxiety symptoms indicating early repetitive and social disturbances in children in foster care.

Keywords: Anxiety; Foster care; Preschool anxiety scale (PAS); Preschool children.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Anxiety Disorders / diagnosis
Anxiety* / diagnosis
Child, Preschool
Fear
Humans
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder* / diagnosis
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder* / epidemiology
Psychopathology