Anxiety
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Abstract
In recent years there has been a metamorphosis in the study of anxiety in children. Once a concept primarily of clinical interest and of central scientific importance only within psychoanalytic theory, anxiety has become a concept of ubiquitous theoretical relevance and the focus of considerable systematic research with normal children. While the causes of this transformation are diverse, two factors seem especially implicated. These are the increasing interest of methodologically sophisticated researchers in testing psychoanalytic hypotheses concerning the interrelationships between affective and other behavior systems and the meteoric rise to prominence of anxiety as a drive or drive-related construct in learning theory. The resulting application of experimental methods and design in the study of anxiety and the development of reliable measures of anxiety in children served as further spurs to research activity in dus area.1 Although there is a vast clinical literature concerning anxiety in children (19, 60, 72, 73, 89, 127, 194, 228), this chapter is limited primarily to a discussion of research with normal children. Three aspects of this research are emphasized. First, an attempt is made to delineate some of the major conceptual problems which affect the generality and comparability of research findings. Second, salient theoretical contributions are briefly discussed. Third, considerable emphasis is placed on methodological and measurement problems in anxiety research with children. In addition, although a comprehensive discussion of all studies of behavioral correlates of anxiety in children is not within the scope of this chapter, an attempt is made to review briefly the findings from the research literature concerning