The German Journal of Psychiatry

Vol. 16 (2013) - Issue 3

Frequency and Types of Anxiety-Related Emotional Disorders in Secondary School Children in an Urban Population from India
Anjali Joshi, Sanjay Kukreja, Avinash De Sousa, Nilesh Shah, Sushma Sonavane, Sagar Karia, Amresh Shrivastava

Abstract:
Background: Anxiety disorders are very common in secondary school children with little epidemiological data from countries like India. The objective of this study was to determine the frequency and type of anxiety disorders in children of a secondary school (std. 5th to 10th) and determine the validity of self-reporting and parent’s reporting of anxiety on Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED) questionnaire by a clinical interview.

Methods: Parents and children (n = 450) were administered the SCARED questionnaire and findings were statistically analyzed.

Results: In our study population, 36.7% of the children studying in secondary school (std. 5th to 10th) had an anxiety disorder. The SCARED screening test reported by the child had a high sensitivity (82.35%) and low specificity (48.05%). On combining the SCARED screening test of the child and parent in series, the net sensitivity dropped to 39.29 % while the net specificity increased to 95.00%. Thus, when both the parent and the child SCARED score was >25, there was 84.6 % chance that the child will have an anxiety disorder detected on clinical interview.

Conclusions: Both parents and children were quite accurate in their perception regarding the presence of anxiety disorders (German J Psychiatry 2013; 16(3): 112-118).

Keywords: anxiety disorder, emotional disorder, children, screening, DSM IV, SCARED

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