Children and adolescents referred for treatment of anxiety disorders: Differences in clinical characteristics

- Children and adolescents with anxiety disorders have distinct characteristics.
- Children have more diagnoses of separation anxiety disorder than adolescents.
- Adolescents have more primary diagnoses of social anxiety disorder than children.
- Adolescents have more severe symptoms of anxiety than children.
- Adolescents have more comorbid mood disorders and school refusal than children.

BackgroundReports of the clinical characteristics of children and adolescents with anxiety disorders are typically based on community populations or from clinical samples with exclusion criterion applied. Little is known about the clinical characteristics of children and adolescents routinely referred for treatment for anxiety disorders. Furthermore, children and adolescents are typically treated as one homogeneous group although they may differ in ways that are clinically meaningful.MethodsA consecutive series of children (n=100, aged 6-12 years) and adolescents (n=100, aged 13-18 years), referred to a routine clinical service, were assessed for anxiety and comorbid disorders, school refusal and parental symptoms of psychopathology.ResultsChildren with a primary anxiety disorder were significantly more likely to be diagnosed with separation anxiety disorder than adolescents. Adolescents with a primary anxiety disorder had significantly higher self and clinician rated anxiety symptoms and had more frequent primary diagnoses of social anxiety disorder, diagnoses and symptoms of mood disorders, and irregular school attendance.LimitationsChildhood and adolescence were considered categorically as distinct, developmental periods; in reality changes would be unlikely to occur in such a discrete manner.ConclusionsThe finding that children and adolescents with anxiety disorders have distinct clinical characteristics has clear implications for treatment. Simply adapting treatments designed for children to make the materials more 'adolescent-friendly' is unlikely to sufficiently meet the needs of adolescents.