Soft signs in children of parents with agoraphobia

Objective: To study a proposed relationship between anxiety disorders and neurological soft signs by determining whether children of agoraphobic parents would have an increased prevalence of soft signs compared to children of parents without agoraphobia. Method: Family study methodology was used to compare 25 children of agoraphobic adults and 25 age- and sex-matched children of nonagoraphobic adults on a structured soft signs examination and on structured psychiatric interviews. Also, soft signs of 12 agoraphobic adults were compared with soft signs of 16 control adults. Results: Children of agoraphobic adults had significantly more right- and left-side motor slowness on finger tapping and hand patting (p values <.05) than did children of controls. Seventy-six percent of the children of agoraphobic adults had at least one slow motor sign, compared with 28% of the control children (p <.001). There were no significant differences in soft signs between agoraphobic and control adults. Conclusions: The study provides additional support for a relationship between soft signs and anxiety disorder.