[Separation anxiety and agoraphobia in 8-year-old children]

In the literature on the aetiology of panic disorder, the separation-anxiety-hypothesis is discussed, in which separation anxiety disorder is conceived as a precursor of panic disorder. Using the representative sample of the Dresden Child Anxiety Study (DKAS) we examined weather agoraphobic and separation anxiety symptoms do already co-occur systematically in eight-year-olds. After N = 826 children had been screened, N = 230 took part in an individual diagnostic interview. With a total prevalence of 9.5% for all anxiety disorders, the prevalence rate for separation anxiety amounted to 2.8%. Another 2.5% of the children (almost exclusively girls) received a diagnosis of specific phobia in agoraphobic situations. Separation anxiety, social anxiety, agoraphobic anxiety and panic anxiety were assessed on a dimensional level, as well. However, no specific pattern of co-morbidity could be found in terms of an increased frequency of agoraphobic fears and separation anxiety occurring simultaneously. The symptom profiles of children with separation anxiety and those with agoraphobic anxieties differed considerably. Children currently living in a separation situation do not exhibit separation anxiety or agoraphobia more frequently than the rest of the children.