Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-8ctnn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T02:03:09.109Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Temperamental Dimension and Anxiety Problems in a Clinical Sample of Three- to Six-year old Children: A Study of Variables

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 April 2014

Andrés Laredo ,
María Claustre Jané ,
Ferran Viñas ,
Mercé Mitjavila ,
Ester Pla ,
Maite Pi ,
Gloria Ruiz  and
Edelmira Domènech
Andrés Laredo*
Affiliation:
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
María Claustre Jané
Affiliation:
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Ferran Viñas
Affiliation:
Universitat de Girona
Mercé Mitjavila
Affiliation:
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Ester Pla
Affiliation:
Centre de Diagnòstic i Atenció Precoz d'Olot
Maite Pi
Affiliation:
Centre de Salut Mental Infanto-Juvenil de Girona
Gloria Ruiz
Affiliation:
Centre de Diagnòstic i Atenció Precoç de Sabadell. Consorci Hospitalari Parc Taulí
Edelmira Domènech
Affiliation:
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
*
Address correspondence concerning this article to: Andrés Laredo García, Departament de Psicologia Clínica i de la Salut, Facultat de Psicologia. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra (Spain). E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In the last few years, many researchers have studied the presence of common dimensions of temperament in subjects with symptoms of anxiety. The aim of this study is to examine the association between temperamental dimensions (high negative affect and activity level) and anxiety problems in clinical preschool children. A total of 38 children, ages 3 to 6 years, from the Infant and Adolescent Mental Health Center of Girona and the Center of Diagnosis and Early Attention of Sabadell and Olot were evaluated by parents and psychologists. Their parents completed several screening scales and, subsequently, clinical child psychopathology professionals carried out diagnostic interviews with children from the sample who presented signs of anxiety. Findings showed that children with high levels of negative affect and low activity level have pronounced symptoms of anxiety. However, children with anxiety disorders do not present different temperament styles from their peers without these pathologies.

En los últimos años, diversos investigadores han estudiado la presencia de dimensiones temperamentales comunes en sujetos con sintomatología ansiosa. El objetivo del presente estudio es examinar la asociación entre dimensiones temperamentales (afecto negativo y nivel de actividad) y problemas de ansiedad en niños clínicos preescolares. Un total de 38 niños de 3 a 6 años de edad, pertenecientes al Centro de Salud Mental Infanto-Juvenil de Girona y al Centro de Diagnóstico y Atención Precoz de Sabadell y Olot, fueron evaluados por sus padres y por psicólogos. Los padres contestaron a diversas escalas de cribaje y, posteriormente, diversos profesionales en psicopatología clínica infantil realizaron entrevistas diagnósticas a los niños de la muestra que presentaban indicios de ansiedad. Los hallazgos obtenidos muestran que los niños con elevados niveles de afecto negativo y bajos niveles de actividad presentan elevada sintomatología ansiosa. Sin embargo, los niños con trastornos de ansiedad no presentan un estilo temperamental distinto al de los niños sin estas patologías.

Keywords

temperamentnegative affectactivity levelpreschool ageanxiety symptomsanxiety disorderstemperamentoafecto negativonivel de actividadedad preescolarsintomatología ansiosatrastornos de ansiedad
Type
Articles
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 10 , Issue 2 , November 2007 , pp. 399 - 407
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2007

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

American Psychological Association. (1994). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4ª ed.) (DSM-IV). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.Google Scholar
Anderson, J.C. (1994). Epidemiological issues. In Ollendick, T.H., Kingy, N.J., & Yule, W. (Eds.), International handbook of phobic and anxiety disorders in children and adolescents (pp. 43–66). New York: Plenium Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anthony, J.L., Lonigan, C.J., Hooe, E.S., & Phillips, B.M. (2002). An affect-based, hierarchical model of temperament and its relations with internalizing symptomatology. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 31, 480–490.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Axelson, D., & Birmaher, B. (2001). Relation between anxiety and depressive disorders in childhood and adolescence. Depression and Anxiety, 14, 67–78.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ballespí, S., & Jané, M.C. (2003). Inhibició, psicopatologia i alteracions del llenguatge. In Domènech-Llaberia, E., Obiols, J.E., Jané, M.C. & Subirà, S., Actualizacions en Psicopatologia Clínica (pp. 41–78). Barcelona: Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona.Google Scholar
Biederman, J., Faraone, S.N., & Marrs, A. (1997). Panic disorder and agoraphobia in consecutively referred children and adolescents. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 36, 214–223.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Biederman, J., Rosenbaum, J.F., & Bolsuc-Murphy, E.A. (1993). A 3-year follow-up of children with and without behavioral inhibition. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 32, 814–821.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Carranza, J.A., González, C., & Hidalgo, M.D. (2000, July). Spanish adaptation of the Children Behavior Assessment Questionnaire. Poster presented at the XII Conference of Infantile Psychiatry and Psychology. Stockholm, Sweden.Google Scholar
Clark, L.A., Watson, D., & Mineka, S. (1994). Temperament, personality, and the mood and anxiety disorders. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 103, 103–115.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Costello, E.J., & Angold, A. (1995). Epidemiology. In March, J.S. (Ed.), Anxiety disorders in children and adolescents (pp. 109–124). New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Craske, M.G., Poulton, R., Tsao, J.C.I., & Plotkin, D. (2001) Paths to panic-agoraphobia: An exploratory analysis from age 3 to 21 in an unselected birth cohort. American Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 40, 556–563.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Domènech-Llaberia, E. (1996). Escala de Sintomatología Ansiosa Preescolar (ESAP). Unpublished manuscript.Google Scholar
Eisenberg, N., Fabes, R.A., & Guthrie, I.K. (2000). Dispositional emotionality and regulation: Their role in predicting quality of social functioning. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78, 136–57.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Eysenck, H., & Eysenck, S. (1985). Personality and individual differences. New York: Plenum. (Spanish translation: Personalidad y diferencias individuales. Madrid: Pirámide, 1987).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frick, P.J. (2004). Integrating research on temperament and childhood psychopathology: Its pitfalls and promise. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 33, 2–7.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gándara, V.B. (2005). Temperamento. In Ezpeleta, L. (Ed.), Factores de riesgo en psicopatología del desarrollo (pp. 113–145). Barcelona: Masson.Google Scholar
Garralda, M.E., Yates, P., & Higginson, I. (2000), Child and adolescent mental health service use. HoNOSCA as an outcome measure. Britain Journal of Psychiatry, 177, 52–58.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goldsmith, H.H., Aksan, L., Essex, M., Smider, N., & Mider, N.A. (2001). Temperament and socio-emotional adjustment to kindergarten: A multi-informant perspective. In Wachs, T.D. & Kohnstamm, G.A. (Eds.), Temperament in context (pp. 103–138). Mahwah, NJ: ErlbaumGoogle Scholar
Goldsmith, H.H., & Lemery, K.S. (2000). Linking temperamental fearfulness and anxiety symptoms: A behavior-genetic perspective. Biological Psychiatry, 48, 1190–1209.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gowers, S.G., Harrington, R.C., Whitton, A., Lelliott, P., Beevor, A., Wing, J., & Jezzard, R. (1999). Brief scale for measuring the outcomes of emotional and behavioural disorders in children. Health of the Nation Outcome Scales for Children and Adolescents (HoNOSCA). The British Journal of Psychiatry, 174, 413–416.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jané, M.C., Canals, J., Ballespí, S., Viñas, F., Esparó, G., & Domènech-Llaberia, E. (2006). Parents' and teachers' reports of DSM-IV psychopathological symptoms in preschool children. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 41, 386–393.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jané, M.C., & Domènech-Llaberia, E. (2005). Entrevista de trastornos de ansiedad preescolar en base a criterios diagnòsticos del DSM-IV. Unpublished manuscript.Google Scholar
Kagan, J., Reznick, J.S., & Gibbons, A. (1989). Inhibited and uninhibited types of children. Child Development, 60, 838–845.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Masi, G., Mucci, L., Favilla, L., Brovedani, P., Millepiedi, S., & Perugi, G. (2003). Temperament in adolescents with anxiety and depressive disorders and in their families. Child Psychiatry and Human Development, 33, 245–251.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Maziade, M., Caperaa, P., Laplante, B., Boudreault M., & Thivierge, J. (1985). Value of difficult temperament among 7-years-olds in the general population for predicting psychiatric diagnosis at age 12. American Journal of psychiatry, 142, 943–946.Google Scholar
Morizot, J., & Vitaro, F. (2003). Temperament et components perturbateurs chez l'enfant: une reuve critique des études longitudinales. Bulletin de Psychiatry, 56, 69–78.Google Scholar
Muris, P., Merckelbach, H., & Damsma, E. (2000). Threat perception bias in nonreferred socially anxious children. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 29, 348–359.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nelson, B., Martin, R.P., Hodge, S., Havill, V., & Kamphaus, R. (1999). Modeling the prediction of elementary school adjustment from preschool temperament. Personality and individual differences, 26, 687–700.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nigg, J.T. (2006). Temperament and developmental psychopathology. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 47, 395–422.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Olson, S.L., Bates, J.E., & Bayles, K. (1986, April). Prediction of social and cognitive competence at age 6 from early mother-child interaction. Presented at The Fifth Biennial International Conference on Infant Studies, Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Pettit, G.S., & Bates, J.E. (1989). Family interaction patterns and children's behavior problems from infancy to 4 years. Development and psychopathology, 25, 413–420.Google Scholar
Rapee, R.M. (2002). The development and modification of temperamental risk for anxiety disorders: Prevention of a lifetime of anxiety? Biological Psychiatry, 52, 947–957.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rapee, R.M., & Szollos, A.A. (2002). Developmental antecedents of anxiety in childhood. Behaviour Change, 19, 146–157.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosenbaum, J.F., Biederman, J., & Bolduc-Murphy, B.A., (1993): Behavioral inhibition in childhood: A risk factor for anxiety disorders. Harvard Review of Psychiatry, 1, 2–16.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rosenbaum, J.F., Biederman, J., & Hirshfeld, D.R. (1991). Further evidence of an association between behavioral inhibition and anxiety disorders: Results from a family study of children from a non-clinical sample. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 23, 49–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rothbart, M.K. (1989). Temperament in childhood: A framework. In Kohnstamm, G., Bates, J., & Rothbart, M.K. (Eds.), Temperament in childhood (pp. 59–73). Chichester, UK: Wiley.Google Scholar
Rothbart, M.K., Ahadi, S.A., & Hershey, K.L. (1994). Temperament and social behavior in childhood. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 40, 21–39.Google Scholar
Rothbart, M.K., & Bates, J.E. (1998). Temperament. In Eisenberg, N. (Ed.), Handbook of child psychology: Vol. 3. Social, emotional, and personality development (5th ed., pp. 105–176). New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Rothbart, M.K., & Derryberry, D. (1981). Development of individual differences in temperament. In Lamb, M.E. & Brown, A.L. (Eds.), Advances in developmental psychology (Vol. 1., pp. 37–86). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Shiner, R., & Caspi, A. (2003). Personality differences in childhood and adolescence: Measurement, development, and consequences. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 44, 2–32.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sprafkin, J., & Gadow, K.D. (1996). Early Childhood Symptom Inventories manual. Stony Brook, New York: Checkmate Plus.Google Scholar
Taboada, A.M., Ezpeleta, L., & de la Osa, N. (1998). Trastornos por ansiedad en la infancia y adolescencia: factores de riesgo. Ansiedad y estrés, 4, 1–16.Google Scholar
Teerikangas, O.M., Aronen, E.T., Martin, R.P., & Huttunen, M.O. (1998). Effects of infant temperament and early intervention on the psychiatric symptoms of adolescents. Journal American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 37, 1070–1076.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tackett, J.L., & Krueger, R.F. (2005). Interpreting personality as a vulnerability for psychopathology: A developmental approach to the personality-psychopathology relationship. In Hankin, B.L. & Abela, J.R.Z (Eds.), Development of psychopathology: A vulnerability-stress perspective (pp. 199–214). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thomas, A., & Chess, S. (1977). Temperament and development. New York: Brunner/Mazel.Google Scholar
Tschann, J.M., Kaiser, P., Chesney, M.A., Alkon, A., & Boyce, T. (1996). Resilience and vulnerability among preschool children: Family functioning, temperament, and behavioral problems. Journal American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 35, 184–192.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vasey, M.W., & Dadds, M.R. (2001). The developmental psychopathology of anxiety. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Watson, D. (2005). Rethinking the mood and anxiety disorders: A quantitative hierarchical model for DSM-V. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 114, 522–536.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed