Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Anxiety and Depression in Children: A Preliminary Examination of the Utility of the PANAS-C

  • Published:
Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Recent research has questioned the validity of identifying depression and anxiety as separate constructs in children. The current investigation examined the usefulness of the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule for Children (PANAS-C) in differentiating between anxiety and depression in children while also providing needed reliability and validity data on the PANAS-C. In addition, the relationship between positive and negative affect and coping was examined. Subjects included 110 third through fifth graders from a semirural public school setting. Children completed the PANAS-C, as well as self-report measures of depression, anxiety, and coping strategies. Moderate item–total correlations and high internal consistency indicated that the PANAS-C has good reliability. Validity results were mixed: a two-factor solution resembled previous studies, and negative affect was associated with avoidance coping strategies whereas positive affect was associated with approach coping strategies, as expected. However, correlations of positive and negative affect, anxiety, and depression scales suggest that positive and negative affectivity are negatively related in children as opposed to separate and independent constructs. Results of the present investigation question the validity of the use of the PANAS-C for differentiating anxiety and depression with this age group and lend support to the possibility that high overlap between anxiety and depression in this age group may be specific for childhood depression.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

REFERENCES

  • Altshuler, J. L., & Ruble, D. N. (1989). Developmental changes in children's awareness of strategies for coping with uncontrollable stress. Child Development, 60, 1337–1349.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beaver, B. R. (1997). The role of emotion in children's selection of strategies for coping with daily stresses. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 43, 129–147.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blumberg, S. H., & Izard, C. E. (1986). Discriminating patterns of emotions on 10-and 11-year-old children's anxiety and depression. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 852–857.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brady, E. U., & Kendall, P. C. (1992). Comorbidity of anxiety and depression in children and adolescents. Psychological Bulletin, 111, 244–255.

    Google Scholar 

  • Causey, D. L., & Dubow, E. F. (1992). Development of a self-report coping measure for elementary school children. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 21, 47–59.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clark, L. A., & Watson, D. (1988). Mood and the mundane: Relations between daily life events and self-reported mood. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 296–308.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cole, D. A., Truglio, R., & Peeke, L. (1997). Relation between symptoms of anxiety and depression in children: A multitrait-multimethod-multigroup assessment. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 65(1), 110–119.

    Google Scholar 

  • Compas, B. E., Malcarne, V. L., & Fondacaro, K. M. (1988). Coping with stressful events in older children and young adolescents. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 56, 405–411.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cox, M. R., & Kamphaus, R. W. (1994). Evaluating the utility of self-report measures of childhood anxiety and depression. Paper presented at the meeting of the National Association of School Psychologists, Seattle, WA, March.

  • Crowley, S. L., & Emerson, E. N. (1996). Discriminant validity of self-reported anxiety and depression in children: Negative affectivity of independent constructs? Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 25, 139–146.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dobson, K. S. (1985). The relationship between anxiety and depression. Clinical Psychology Review, 5, 307–324.

    Google Scholar 

  • Foa, E. B., & Foa, U. G. (1982). Differentiating between depression and anxiety: Is it possible? Is it useful? Psychopharmacology Bulletin, 18, 62–68.

    Google Scholar 

  • Folkman, S., & Lazarus, R. (1988). Coping as a mediator of emotion. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 466–475.

    Google Scholar 

  • Joiner, T. E., Jr., Catanzaro, S. J., & Laurent, J. (1996). Tripartite structure of positive and negative affect, depression, and anxiety in children and adolescent psychiatric inpatients. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 105, 401–409.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jolly, J. B., Dyck, M. J., Kramer, T. A., & Wherry, J. N. (1994). Integration of positive and negative affectivity and cognitive content-specificity: Improved discrimination of anxious and depressed symptoms. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 103, 544–552.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kanner, A. D., Coyne, J. C., Schaefer, C., & Lazarus, R. S. (1981). Comparison of two models of stress management: Daily hassles and uplifts versus major life events. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 4, 1–39.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kashani, J. H., Vaida, A. F., Soltys, S. M., Dandoy, A. C., Katz, L. M., & Reid, J. C. (1990). Correlates of psychiatrically hospitalized children and their parents. American Journal of Psychiatry, 147, 319–323.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kaslow, N. J., Stark, K. D., Printz, B., Livingston, R., & Tsai, S. (1992). Cognitive triad inventory for children: Development and relation to depression and anxiety. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 21, 339–347.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kovacs, M. (1992). Children's Depression Inventory manual. Los Angeles: Western Psychological Services.

    Google Scholar 

  • Laurent, J., Potter, K., & Catanzaro, S. J. (1994). Assessing positive and negative affect in children: The development of the PANAS-C. Poster session at the annual meeting of the National Association of School Psychologists, Seattle, WA, March.

  • Laurent, J., Catanzaro, S. J., Potter, K. I., & Joiner, T. E., Jr. (1997). A measure of positive and negative affect for children: Scale development and validation (manuscript under revision).

  • Lonigan, C. J., Hooe, E., Kistner, J. A., & David, C. (1997). Positive and negative affectivity in children: Relation to adjustment problems. Poster session at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association, Chicago, IL, August.

  • Reynolds, C. R., & Richmond, B. O. (1985). Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale. Los Angeles: Western Psychological Services.

    Google Scholar 

  • Saylor, C. F., Finch, A. J., Spirito, A., & Bennett, B. (1984). The Children's Depression Inventory: A systematic evaluation of psychometric properties. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 52, 955–967.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stark, K. D. (1990). Childhood depression: School-based interventions. New York: Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stark, K. D., Humphrey, L. L., Crook, K., & Lewis, K. (1990). Perceived family environments of depressed and anxious children: Child's and maternal figures' perspectives. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 18, 527–547.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stark, K. D., Kaslow, N. J., & Laurent, J. (1993). The assessment of depression in children: Are we assessing depression or the broad-band construct of negative affectivity? Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders, 1(3), 149–154.

    Google Scholar 

  • Strauss, C. C., Last, C. G., Hersen, M., & Kazdin, A. E. (1988). Association between anxiety and depression in children and adolescents with anxiety disorders. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 16, 57–68.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tannenbaum, L. E., Forehand, R., & Thomas, A. M. (1992). Adolescent self-reported anxiety and depression: Separate constructs or a single entity? Child Study Journal, 22, 61–72.

    Google Scholar 

  • Watson, D., & Clark, L. A. (1984). Negative affectivity: The disposition to experience aversive emotional states. Psychological Bulletin, 96, 465–490.

    Google Scholar 

  • Watson, D., Clark, L. A., & Carey, G. (1988). Positive and negative affectivity and their relation to anxiety and depressive disorders. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 97, 346–353.

    Google Scholar 

  • Watson, D., Clark, L. A., & Tellegen, A. (1988). Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect: The PANAS scales. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 1063–1070.

    Google Scholar 

  • Watson, D., Weber, K., Assenheimer, J. S., Clark, L. A. Strauss, M. E., & McCormick, R. A. (1995). Testing a tripartite model: I. Evaluating the convergent and discriminant validity of anxiety and depression symptom scales. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 104, 3–14.

    Google Scholar 

  • Watson, D., Clark, L. A., Weber, K., Assenheimer, J. S., Strauss, M. E., & McCormick, R. A. (1995). Testing a tripartite model: II. Exploring the symptom structure of anxiety and depression in student, adult, and patient samples. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 104, 15–25.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weiss, B., Weisz, J. R., Politano, M., Carey, M., Nelson, W. N., & Finch, A. J. (1991). Developmental differences in the factor structure of the children's Depression Inventory. Psychological Assessment, 3, 38–45.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wills, T. A. (1986). Stress and coping in early adolescence: Relationships to substance use in urban school samples. Health Psychology, 5, 503–529.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zeman, J., & Garber, J. (1989). Affect regulation in depressed vs. nondepressed children. Poster presented at the meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Kansas City, MO, April.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Richardson Independent School District, Richardson, Texas

    Kimberly Crook

  2. Psychology Department, University of Wisconsin—Whitewater, Whitewater, Wisconsin, 53190

    Barbara Rybski Beaver & Matthew Bell

Authors
  1. Kimberly Crook
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Barbara Rybski Beaver
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Matthew Bell
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Crook, K., Beaver, B.R. & Bell, M. Anxiety and Depression in Children: A Preliminary Examination of the Utility of the PANAS-C. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment 20, 333–350 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021967623139

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021967623139

Search

Navigation