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Children with Generalized Anxiety Disorder Do Not Have Peer Problems, Just Fewer Friends

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Abstract

A common assumption is that all youth with anxiety disorders (AD) experience impaired peer relationships relative to healthy control children. Social impairments have been identified among youth with certain AD (e.g., social anxiety disorder; SAD), but less is known about the peer relationships of children with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). We therefore compared the interpersonal functioning of youth with GAD, SAD, and controls (6–13 years). Despite having relatively fewer friends overall, children with GAD did not differ from controls in terms of the likelihood of having a best friend, participation in groups/clubs, and parent ratings of social competence. In comparison, youth with SAD were less socially competent, had fewer friends and difficulty making new friends compared to controls. Findings suggest that peer difficulties are not a universal feature of all childhood AD and highlight a need to better understand the social experiences and functioning of children with GAD.

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Acknowledgment

This research was supported in part by NIH grant # K23 MH081188 awarded to the second author.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, USA

    Lindsay Scharfstein, Deborah Beidel & Nina Wong

  2. Children’s National Medical Center, The George Washington School of Medicine, Washington, DC, USA

    Candice Alfano

Authors
  1. Lindsay Scharfstein
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  2. Candice Alfano
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  3. Deborah Beidel
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  4. Nina Wong
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Correspondence to Lindsay Scharfstein.

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Scharfstein, L., Alfano, C., Beidel, D. et al. Children with Generalized Anxiety Disorder Do Not Have Peer Problems, Just Fewer Friends. Child Psychiatry Hum Dev 42, 712–723 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-011-0245-2

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