Developmental trajectories of adolescent anxiety disorder symptoms: a 5-year prospective community study.
OBJECTIVE
This study prospectively examined the developmental trajectories of anxiety disorder symptoms in a large sample of adolescents from the general population.


METHODS
Two cohorts of early and middle adolescents (1,318 junior high and high school students) completed the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders during 5 consecutive years. The Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders is a questionnaire that measures self-rated child and adolescent anxiety symptoms that map onto DSM-IV-TR anxiety disorders. At the first wave of measurement, the early and middle adolescent cohorts were an average of 12 and 16 years of age, respectively. Age and sex differences in the developmental trajectories of adolescent anxiety disorder symptoms over time were examined by means of latent growth modeling.


RESULTS
Over the course of 5 years, there was a slight decrease in the panic disorder, school anxiety, and separation anxiety disorder symptoms for all of the adolescents, with the exception of social phobia symptoms, which remained fairly stable over time. Adolescent girls showed a slight increase of generalized anxiety disorder symptoms over time, whereas these symptoms decreased among adolescent boys.


CONCLUSIONS
This study replicates and extends earlier findings on the developmental trajectories of anxiety symptoms during adolescence. By using individually focused, trajectory-based analyses rather than group score differences, this study extends earlier findings and advances our understanding of age and sex differences in the development of adolescent anxiety symptoms.
Hale
William W
WW
Drs. Hale, Raaijmakers, and Meeus are with the Research Center for Adolescent Development at Utrecht University; Dr. Muris is with the Institute of Psychology at Erasmus University Rotterdam; and Dr. van Hoof is with the Department of Developmental Psychology at Utrecht University.. Electronic address: b.hale@uu.nl.
Raaijmakers
Quinten
Q
Drs. Hale, Raaijmakers, and Meeus are with the Research Center for Adolescent Development at Utrecht University; Dr. Muris is with the Institute of Psychology at Erasmus University Rotterdam; and Dr. van Hoof is with the Department of Developmental Psychology at Utrecht University.
Muris
Peter
P
Drs. Hale, Raaijmakers, and Meeus are with the Research Center for Adolescent Development at Utrecht University; Dr. Muris is with the Institute of Psychology at Erasmus University Rotterdam; and Dr. van Hoof is with the Department of Developmental Psychology at Utrecht University.
van Hoof
Anne
A
Drs. Hale, Raaijmakers, and Meeus are with the Research Center for Adolescent Development at Utrecht University; Dr. Muris is with the Institute of Psychology at Erasmus University Rotterdam; and Dr. van Hoof is with the Department of Developmental Psychology at Utrecht University.
Meeus
Wim
W
Drs. Hale, Raaijmakers, and Meeus are with the Research Center for Adolescent Development at Utrecht University; Dr. Muris is with the Institute of Psychology at Erasmus University Rotterdam; and Dr. van Hoof is with the Department of Developmental Psychology at Utrecht University.
D000293:Adolescent; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D001010:Anxiety, Separation / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D002648:Child; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening; D009426:Netherlands; D016584:Panic Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D010698:Phobic Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires