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Academic Impairment and Impact of Treatments Among Youth with Anxiety Disorders

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Abstract

Background

Global academic difficulties have often been reported in youth with anxiety disorders, however, little is known about the specific academic deficits in this population.

Objective

To (a) evaluate the prevalence of seven specific academic impairments in children and adolescents with anxiety disorders, (b) determine whether these impairments are associated with demographic (i.e., race, gender and age) and clinical characteristics (i.e., type of disorder, anxiety severity and global impairment) and (c) examine the impact of anxiety treatments on these impairments.

Methods

As part of the Child-Adolescent Anxiety Multimodal Study (a randomized controlled trial), academic impairments, anxiety severity and global impairment were measured in 488 youth (mean age = 10.7 years) with separation, social and/or generalized anxiety disorders.

Results

At baseline, 47 % of the sample was rated as impaired on 4 out of 7 items, and nearly 10 % of the sample was rated as academically impaired on 6 out of 7 items. Conversely, 28 % reported no impairment across the 7 items. There were no significant differences in parent-reported academic impairments by race, age or gender. Academic impairment was significantly, positively correlated with anxiety severity and negatively correlated with global functioning. Treatment responders were significantly more likely than non-responders to evidence improvement across all seven specific academic items.

Conclusions

Specific academic impairments are prevalent among youth with anxiety disorders. The benefits of evidence-based treatments (i.e., medication/sertraline; CBT/Coping cat) extend beyond symptom relief to include improved academic performance, as perceived by parents, in youth with anxiety disorders.

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Acknowledgments

Funding for this research was supported by the following grants from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH): MH64089, MH64107, MH64003, MH63747, MH064092, and MH64088. Views expressed within this article represent those of the authors and are not intended to represent the position of the NIMH, National Institutes of Health, or Department of Health and Human Services. Phillip C. Kendall is an author of and receives royalties from publications of materials for treating childhood anxiety. James T. McCracken is a consultant for Roche, BioMarin, and PharmaNet and has research contracts with Roche, Seaside Therapeutics, and Otsuka. Boris Birmaher is an author of and receives royalties from publications by Random House and Lippincott Williams and Wilkins. John T. Walkup is a consultant for Shire and receives free medication and placebo from Eli Lilly, Pfizer, and Abbott for NIH-funded studies. He receives honoraria from the Tourette Syndrome Association and royalties from Guilford Press and Oxford University Press. Scott Compton has received research support from Shire Pharmaceuticals and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Dara Sakolsky receives funding from NIH and the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation and honoraria from the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry for teaching.

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Correspondence to Golda S. Ginsburg.

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Nail, J.E., Christofferson, J., Ginsburg, G.S. et al. Academic Impairment and Impact of Treatments Among Youth with Anxiety Disorders. Child Youth Care Forum 44, 327–342 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10566-014-9290-x

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