As many as 8 to 11% of children and adolescents suffer from an anxiety disorder which can develop into specific phobias, social phobias, generalised anxiety disorders and obsessive behaviour. Childhood and adolescents are identified as the main risk developmental phases for the beginning of anxiety disorders and abnormal anxiety levels have negative effects on cognitive functioning, school performance and outcomes. If it were known why anxiety disorders in children was on the increase, some changes could be made to suitably accommodate these learners in schools. Learning barriers can also cause anxiety disorders, resulting in learners’ poor performances academically. A typical school community was selected to conduct the research. The main study objective was to facilitate the implementation of an education support plan, to enable learners with anxiety to participate in learning activities, and provide guidelines on the effective teaching and learning strategies for learners with anxiety disorders. What defines anxiety in learners at school, how are these anxiety disorders managed and what support is available, were the three main research questions posed. Relevant data was gathered via document analysis, questionnaires, observations and field notes and a mixed-method study approach and an interpretivist paradigm were chosen, with the researcher acting as a participant observer. Through a mixed methods approach, relevant in-depth information was generated and by choosing to conduct a case study, an in-depth analysis of anxiety disorders in learners and adolescents in their natural school setting was possible. The researcher’s personal experiences and interactions with the learners, also allowed for a subjective epistemology. A pyramid structure and framework was recommended to maximise support for learners experiencing an anxiety disorder. This framework is comprised of three pillars on which the learner’s success rests, namely: the enrolment procedure, having a support team and effective communication. The teachers indicated that by really getting to know their learners and responding to their needs, they could reduce feelings of anxiety in their learners. Finally, a goal for the near future was set to reduce the unwanted rise of anxious distress in young learners and adolescents so that they can be the successful adults of tomorrow. / Inclusive Education

In the literature, a well-known effective program in reducing children’s anxiety symptoms is the ‘Coping Cat’ program (Kendall, 1994). However, effectiveness studies of parental education program have been relatively limited. Parenting factors are important as the risk for anxiety disorders appears particularly high in the offspring of anxious parents (McClure, Brennan, Hammen, & Le Brocque, 2001). Further parenting styles such as over-involvement and criticism was found to play a significant role in the development and maintenance of childhood anxiety (Gar, & Hudson, 2008). Therefore, this study adopted the ‘Coping Cat’ treatment program and delivered exclusively to parents of 14 children with anxiety symptoms of ages 6-11. The intervention group consisted of 6 2-hours group sessions of 4 to 7 parents. Psychological questionnaires were administered to parents during pre and post treatment. The outcome measures were compared with another 14 parents who did not receive the parental education program. Self-reported questionnaires were administered, including Parenting Stress Scale (PSS), Alabama Parenting Questionnaire (APQ), Coping Self-Efficacy Scale (CSE 13), Brief COPE and Screen for Child Anxiety Related Disorders (SCARED), to assess parental stress, parental styles, parental stress-coping styles and indirect effect on children’s anxiety symptoms. Repeated-measures ANOVA and paired sample t-tests was computed to evaluate the effects of the parental program. Results suggested that the intervention group showed significantly reduction in parents and children’s levels of stress and anxiety symptoms. It also demonstrated significant decrease of child’s separation anxiety symptoms and school avoidance behaviours after intervention. Moreover, significant reduced level of negative parental practices and increased practices of positive stress-coping strategies were found at post-treatment. Furthermore, perceived efficacy in stopping unpleasant emotions and thoughts as well as getting support from friends and family had improved. Additionally, the reduced stress symptoms among participants in the intervention group were negatively correlated with the increased use of humour coping strategies. Likewise, the reduced level of anxiety symptoms at post-treatment was positively correlated with the reduced practices of negative and ineffective discipline. / published_or_final_version / Clinical Psychology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

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Boston University. University Professors Program Senior theses. / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / 2031-01-02

Previous research had demonstrated cognitive biases towards threatening stimuli in anxious individuals, such as in attention, interpretation and memory. The present study aimed to examine the differences in memory-related information processing between anxious and nonanxious children and the effectiveness of a Cognitive-Bias Modification (CBM) based positive training in altering these differences. The study adopted a directed forgetting paradigm, where children with anxiety disorders (N=12) and healthy controls (N=12) were asked to either forget or remember word lists comprised of words of negative or positive valence, and were later asked to recall and recognize target words. The CBM training was subsequently administered, in which subjects were trained to endorse positive interpretations to ambiguous situations, followed by a similar directed forgetting task for post-training assessment. Results revealed that the CBM training was effective in reducing the hypervigilance towards negative words in anxious children, as well as reducing recall of negative words in all subjects. Clinical implications and limitations of the study were discussed. / published_or_final_version / Clinical Psychology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

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Thesis (M. Soc. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 27-31).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2008. / Title from title screen (site viewed Nov. 25, 2008). PDF text: vii, 160 p. ; 723 K. UMI publication number: AAT 3311407. Includes bibliographical references. Also available in microfilm and microfiche formats.

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Emotional disorders of anxiety and depression have been recognized as the most prevalent mental disorders in children and adolescents. High rates of co-morbidity between anxiety and depression have been reported in both adults and youths. Clark and Watson (1991) proposed a tripartite model to explain both the overlap and distinctiveness of anxiety and depression. In that model, negative affectivity (NA) is experienced in both anxiety and depression; lack of positive affectivity (PA) is specific to depression; and high physiological hyperarousal (PH) is unique to anxiety. Two decades of research among adults have supported the utility of the tripartite model. However, its applicability to children and adolescents has been studied less, and the results have been controversial. This controversy could be caused by two main issues. First, early youth research on the tripartite components has had to borrow adult measures to represent the tripartite constructs. Second, even after child-specific measures for the tripartite constructs were developed, relatively few studies have examined all three tripartite components together. In particular, PH has received less attention than NA and PA. The present study addresses these issues. First, this study assesses all three components of the tripartite model among Chinese children and adolescents in Hong Kong schools. A deliberate attempt is made to use measures of the tripartite constructs that are specific to children in order to improve the construct validity of the measurements. Finally, special attention is paid to the differential utility of the PH construct. Results partially supported the Clark and Watson’s tripartite model (1991). NA is a common component to both anxiety and depression. However, both PA and PH are also common components to both anxiety and depression. In addition, high correlations were found among anxiety, depression, and PH. These results tend to suggest more intricate relationships among anxiety, depression, and somatic symptoms. To conclude, this study suggests an alternative transdiagnostic approach to the tripartite model, which emphasizes clustering of anxiety, depression, and somatic symptoms. / published_or_final_version / Clinical Psychology / Doctoral / Doctor of Psychology