Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 21, 2026

Measuring Attentional Biases for Threat in Children and Adults
Published on: October 19, 2014
Self-reported anxiety in children and adolescents: a three-year follow-up study
E Gullone1, N J King, T H Ollendick
1Department of Psychology, Monash University, Australia.
Abstract:
Anxiety may be more transient in children and adolescents than in adults. The present study involves a longitudinal design enabling the investigation of the continuity/discontinuity of self-reported anxiety in children and adolescents. A sample of 68 children was followed over 3 years. Results indicate that, on the whole, self-reported anxiety decreased over time. This was true for overall anxiety and its sub-types, with the exception of social concerns/concentration, which did not decrease over time. Consistent with past research involving normal fear, girls and younger children were found to score higher on anxiety than boys and older children did. However, those groups scoring higher at inception also demonstrated the most marked decreases over the 3-year period. In addition to the changes found over time, the data indicated continuity in anxiety such that levels of anxiety at inception were significant predictors of follow-up anxiety, although only a small amount of variance was shared. The authors concluded that adult models of anxiety cannot be applied to youth and that future research should investigate the contribution of contextual factors to the development of anxiety in children.
Related Concept Videos
Self-Evaluation: Self-Enhancement and Self-Verification
Anxiety: Overview
Individuals with anxiety often experience a range of physical and emotional symptoms, including sweating, trembling, tachycardia, and disturbances in sleep patterns. These symptoms vary in intensity and frequency but are generally disruptive and distressing.
Self-Report Tests of Personality
Generalized Anxiety Disorder
Social Anxiety Disorder
Self-Discrepancy and Its Effects

