Worry in normal children.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate worry in a nonclinical sample of children aged 8 to 13 years (N = 193).


METHODS
Children were interviewed about the content, characteristics, origins, and severity of their main intense worry. Furthermore, children completed questionnaires to study the relationship between worry, trait anxiety, and depression.


RESULTS
Almost 70% of the children reported that they worried every now and then. The content of these worries predominantly pertained to school performance, dying and health, and social contacts. An examination of the characteristics of children's main intense worries revealed that these worries occurred on average 2 to 3 days per week, were accompanied by modest levels of interference and anxiety, elicited relatively high levels of resistance, and were rather difficult to control. A minority of the children were found to exhibit symptoms of worry in the pathological range: the percentages of children who met the DSM-III-R criteria of overanxious disorder and generalized anxiety disorder were 4.7% and 6.2%, respectively. Finally, worry, anxiety, and depression seemed to be strongly related.


CONCLUSIONS
Worry seems to be a common phenomenon in normal children aged between 8 and 13 years.
Muris
P
P
Department of Psychology, Maastricht University, The Netherlands.
Meesters
C
C
Merckelbach
H
H
Sermon
A
A
Zwakhalen
S
S
D000293:Adolescent; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology*; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D003643:Death; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D002666:Psychology, Child; D012574:Schools; D012917:Social Adjustment