Child Anxiety

Child Anxiety

In ICD-10, anxiety disorders in childhood are classified as emotional disorders with onset specific to childhood. DSM-IV does not contain this category and with two exceptions classifies childhood anxiety disorders in the same way as anxiety disorders in adult life. The exceptions are separation anxiety disorder and reactive attachment disorder, which are listed under the heading 'other disorders of infancy, childhood or adolescence'. ICD-10 has a diagnosis of sibling rivalry disorder. DSM-IV does not have this diagnosis in the main classification, but sibling relationship problems can be coded under 'other conditions that may be the focus of clinical attention'.

Prevalence

The prevalence of anxiety disorders in childhood is uncertain because epidemiological studies have usually employed the wider category of emotional disorder, or asked about symptoms rather than syndromes of anxiety. In their survey of the Isle of Wight, Rutter et at. (1970a) found a prevalence of emotional disorders of 2.5 % in both boys and girls. In a London suburb, the corresponding figure was doubled (Rutter et at. 1975a). (In both places, the rate of conduct disorder was about twice that of emotional disorder.) More recent surveys of the general population suggest rates of anxiety disorders of 6-9% among 7- to 11-year-olds, of which about half was separation anxiety disorder (Anderson et at. 1987; Bird 1996).

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