Abstract
Anxiety is prevalent in childhood and adolescence. Youth with maladaptive responses to common situations and stressors are at risk of having anxiety disorders. Persistent anxiety symptoms and anxiety disorders can be debilitating with long-term adverse outcomes in adulthood. Hence, decreasing the burden of anxiety disorders is an important public health priority. Development of anxiety disorders has a multifactorial etiology. There is a considerable complex interaction of genetics, temperament, parenting behavior, environmental triggers, and physiologic factors. Identification of these risk factors is key to early detection, prevention, and development of applicable management approaches. Despite several evidence-based treatments published, there are limited prevention strategies available. Effective implementation of prevention strategies is essential and can be achieved by either elimination or reduction of the negative risk factors or strengthening the protective factors on anxiety symptoms and anxiety disorders. This chapter reviews the common risk and protective factors and provides current literature on prevention strategies for pediatric and adolescent anxiety disorders.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
Mian ND, Wainwright L, Briggs-Gowan M, Carter AS. An ecological risk model for early childhood anxiety: the importance of early child symptoms and temperament. J Abnorm Child Psychol. 2011;39(4):501–12.
Voltas N, Hernández-martínez C, Arija V, Canals J. The natural course of anxiety symptoms in early adolescence: factors related to persistence. Anxiety Stress Coping. 2017;30(6):671–86.
Bagnell AL. Anxiety and separation disorders. Pediatr Rev. 2011;32(10):440–5.
Essau CA, Lewinsohn PM, Lim JX. Moon-ho RH, avenue H. Incidence, recurrence and comorbidity of anxiety disorders in four major developmental stages. J Affect Disord. 2018;228:248–53.
Ghandour RM, Sherman LJ, Vladutiu CJ, Ali MM, Lynch SE, Bitsko RH, et al. Prevalence and treatment of depression, anxiety, and conduct problems in US children. J Pediatr [Internet] 2018;206:256–267.e3. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpeds.2018.09.021.
Merikangas K, He J, Burstein M, Swanson S, Avenevoli S, Cui L, et al. Lifetime prevalence of mental disorders in US adolescents: results from the National Comorbidity Study-Adolescent Supplement (NCS-A). J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2011;49(10):980–9.
The National Institute of Mental Health. Anxiety disorders [Internet]. 2018 [cited 2019 Feb 21]. Available from: https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/anxiety-disorders/index.shtml#part_145335
Blanco C, Rubio J, Wall M, Wang S, Jiu C, Kendler K. Risk factors for anxiety disorders: common and specific effets in a national sample. Depress Anxiety. 2014;31(9):756–64.
Kingston D, Heaman M, Brownell M, Ekuma O. Predictors of childhood anxiety : a population-based cohort study. PLoS One. 2015;10(7):e0129339.
Deardorff J, Ph D, Hayward C, Wilson KA, Hammer LD, Agras S. Puberty and gender interact to predict social anxiety symptoms in early adolescence. J Adolesc Health. 2007;41(1):102–4.
Brown T, Campbell L, Lehman C, Grisham J, Mancill R. Current and lifetime comorbidity of the DSM-IV anxiety and mood disorders in a large clinical sample. J Abnorm Psychol. 2001;110(Nov):1–2.
Man H, Lai X, Cleary M, Sitharthan T, Hunt GE. Prevalence of comorbid substance use, anxiety and mood disorders in epidemiological surveys, 1990–2014 : a systematic review and meta-analysis. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2015;154:1–13.
Waszczuk MA, Zavos HMS, Eley TC. Genetic and environmental influences on relationship between anxiety sensitivity and anxiety subscales in children. J Anxiety Disord [Internet]. 2013;27(5):475–84. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.janxdis.2013.05.008
Costello E, Mustillo S, Erkanli A, Keeler G, Angold A. Prevalence and development of psychiatric disorders in childhood and adolescence. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2003;60:837–44.
Kessler RC, Berglund P, Demler O. Lifetime prevalence and age-of-onset distributions of DSM-IV disorders in the national comorbidity survey replication. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2005;62(6):593–602.
De Lijster JM, Dierckx B, Utens EMWJ, Verhulst FC, Zieldorff C, Dieleman GC, et al. The age of onset of anxiety disorders. Can J Psychiatr. 2017;62(4):237–46.
Ramsawh H, Weisberg R, Dyck I, Stout R, Keller M. Age of onset, clinical characteristics, and 15-year course of anxiety disorders in a prospective, longitudinal, observational study. J Affect Disord. 2011;132(1–2):260–4.
Zahn-waxler C, Shirtcliff E, Marceau K. Disorders of childhood and adolescence: gender and psychopathology. Annu Rev Clin Psychol. 2008;4:275–303.
Maeng LY, Milad MR. Sex differences in anxiety disorders: interactions between fear, stress,and gonadal hormones. Horm Behav. 2015;76:106–17.
Ohannessian CM, Milan S, Vannucci A. Gender differences in anxiety trajectories from middle to late adolescence. J Youth Adolesc. 2017;46(4):826–39.
Catuzzi JE, Beck KD. Anxiety vulnerability in women: a two-hit hypothesis. Exp Neurol. 2014;259:75–80.
Ginsburg G, Drake K, Tein J, Teetsel R, Riddle M. Preventing the onset of anxiety disorders in offspring of anxious parents: a randomized controlled trial of a family-based intervention. Am J Psychiatry. 2015;172(12):1207–14.
Hopkins J, Lavigne JV, Gouze KR, Lebailly SA, Bryant FB. Multi-domain models of risk factors for depression and anxiety symptoms in preschoolers : evidence for common and specific factors. J Abnorm Child Psychol. 2013;41:705–22.
Gibler RC, Kalomiris AE, Kiel EJ. Paternal anxiety in relation to toddler anxiety: the mediating role of maternal behavior. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev. 2018;49(4):512–22.
Platt R, Williams S, Ginsburg G. Stressful life events and child anxiety: examining parent and child mediators. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev. 2016;47(1):23–34.
Gouze KR, Hopkins J, Bryant FB, Lavigne JV. Parenting and anxiety: bi-directional relations in young children. J Abnorm Child Psychol. 2017;45:1169–80.
Fonzo G, Ramsawh H, Flagan T, Simmons A, Sullivan S, Allard C, et al. Early life stress and the anxious brain: evidence for a neural mechanism linking childhood emotional maltreatment to anxiety in adulthood. Psychol Med. 2016;46(5):1037–54.
Lansford J, Malone P, Castellino D, Dodge K, Pettit G, Bates J. Trajectories of internalizing, externalizing, and grades for children who have and have not experienced their parents’ divorce or separation. J Fam Psychol. 2009;20(2):292–301.
Stapinski LA, Araya R, Heron J, Montgomery AA, Stallard P. Peer victimization during adolescence: concurrent and prospective impact on symptoms of depression and anxiety. Anxiety Stress Coping [Internet]. 2015;28(1):105–20. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1080/10615806.2014.962023
Maniglio R. Child sexual abuse in the etiology of anxiety disorders: a systematic review of reviews. Trauma Violence Abuse. 2013;14(2):96–112.
McMakin D, Alfano C. Sleep and anxiety in late childhood and early adolescence. Curr Opin Psychiatry. 2015;28(6):483–9.
Hoge E, Bickham D, Cantor J. Digital media, anxiety, and depression in children. Pediatrics. 2017;140(Supplement 2):S76–80.
Osmanağaoğlu N, Creswell C, Dodd HF. Intolerance of uncertainty, anxiety, and worry in children and adolescents: a meta-analysis. J Affect Disord. 2018;225:80–90.
Wang Q, Hay M, Clarke D, Menahem S. The prevalence and predictors of anxiety and depression in adolescents with heart disease. J Pediatr. 2012;161:943–6.
Knight A, Weiss P, Morales K. Identifying differences in risk factors for depression and anxiety in pediatric chronic disease: a matched cross-sectional study of youth with lupus/mixed connective tissue disease and their diabetic peers. J Pediatr. 2015;167(6):1397–403.
Mcdonnell GA, Salley CG, Barnett M, DeRosa A, Werk RS, Hourani A, et al. Anxiety among adolescent survivors of pediatric cancer. J Adolesc Health. 2017;61(4):409–23.
Lo CC, Cheng TC. Social status, discrimination, and minority individuals’ mental health: a secondary analysis of US National Surveys. J Racial Ethn Health Disparities. 2018;5(3):485–94.
Jones A, Robinson E, Oginni O, Rahman Q, Rimes KA. Anxiety disorders, gender nonconformity, bullying and self-esteem in sexual minority adolescents: prospective birth cohort study. J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2017;58(11):1201–9.
Mzarek P, Haggerty R. Reducing risks for mental disorders: frontiers for preventive intervention research. Washington: National Academy Press; 1994.
National Research Council and Institute of Medicine. Preventing mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders among young people: Progress and possibilities. Committee on the prevention of mental disorders and substance abuse among children, youth, and young adults: research advances and promising interventions. In: O’Connell ME, Boat T, Warner KE, editors. Board on children, youth, and F D of B and SS and E, editor. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press; 2009.
World Health Organization. Prevention of mental disorders: effective interventions and policy options. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2004.
Shonkoff J, Garner A. American academy of pediatrics. The lifelong effects of early childhood adversity and toxic stress. Pediatrics. 2012;129(1):e232–46.
Topper M, Emmelkamp PMG, Watkins E, Ehring T. Prevention of anxiety disorders and depression by targeting excessive worry and rumination in adolescents and young adults : a randomized controlled trial. Behav Res Ther. 2017;90:123–36.
Moreno-Peral P, Conejo-Ceron S, Rubio-Valera M, et al. Effectiveness of psychological and/ or educational interventions in the prevention of anxiety: a systematic review, meta-analysis, and meta-regression. JAMA Psychiat. 2017;74(10):1021–9.
Rasing SPA, Creemers DHM, Janssens JMAM, Noel X. Depression and anxiety prevention based on cognitive behavioral therapy for at-risk adolescents: a meta-analytic review. Front Psychol. 2017;8(1066):1–17.
Fisak B, Richard D, Mann A. The prevention of child and adolescent anxiety: a meta-analytic review. Prev Sci. 2011;12(3):255–68.
Barrett P, Farrell L, Ollendick T, Dadds M. Long-term outcomes of an Australian universal prevention trial of anxiety and depression symptoms in children and youth: an evaluation of the friends program. J Clin Child Adolesc Psychol. 2006;35:403–11.
Zalta AK. A meta-analysis of anxiety symptom prevention with cognitive-behavioral interventions. J Anxiety Disord [Internet]. 2011;25(5):749–60. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.janxdis.2011.02.007
Deady M, Choi I, Calvo R, Glozier N, Christensen H, Harvey S. EHealth interventions for the prevention of depression and anxiety in the general population: a systematic review and meta-analysis. BMC Psychiatry. 2017;17:310.
Clarke A, Kuosmanen T, Barry M. A systematic review of online youth mental health promotion and prevention interventions. J Youth Adolesc. 2015;44:90–113.
Donovan CL, Spence SH. Prevention of childhood anxiety disorders. Clin Psychol Rev. 2000;20(4):509–31.
American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. Anxiety disorders. 5th ed. Washington DC: American Psychiatric Press; 2013. p. 189–290.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Cabral, M.D., Patel, D.R. (2020). Risk Factors and Prevention Strategies for Anxiety Disorders in Childhood and Adolescence. In: Kim, YK. (eds) Anxiety Disorders. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, vol 1191. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-32-9705-0_27
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-32-9705-0_27
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-32-9704-3
Online ISBN: 978-981-32-9705-0
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)